Microsoft and Unix/Linux (Myths and IP)

[Charles philip Chan]

On 30 Dec 2006, sciguy-Ja3L+HSX0kI at public.gmane.org wrote:

> True, if you really do mean DOS (before MS was "born", Gates designed
> QDOS ("Quick-and Dirty OS") which IBM rejected, and which later formed
> the first product MS put out. Isn't that how the story went?

Gates never designed QDOS, it was bought from _Seattle Computer
Products_ and was written by Tim Paterson.

> Was IBM-DOS first?

No, must hobbist machines before that uses some form of CP/M. 

>>> * Microsoft designed the first spreadsheet - Excel
>>>
>>> * Microsoft designed the first word processor
>>>
>
> I agree. In fact, when they ascended to dominance, they were still
> inferior products. It might only be seen now as "superior" because all
> similar products have been pushed out of the market or marginalized.

Ha ha, when I first used WordStar and Lotus 123 (Multiplan was first) on
a CP/M machine, Ecel and Word were not even a glimmer in Gate's eyes.

> It is surprising that nearly nobody knows that NCSA Mosaic was the
> first browser, used towaerd the late 1980s.

No, the fist web browers was actually, WorldWideWeb.app written on a
NeXTStep machine by Lee. Here is a screenshot:

http://www.w3.org/History/1994/WWW/Journals/CACM/screensnap2_24c.gif

> I wonder how many people think the Internet is "owned" by Microsoft?
> Probably the same numher of people who think the World-Wide Web and
> the Internet are one and the same.

Just like AOHellers who used to think that their walled garden was the
Internet.

Charles

-- 
/* Host controller interrupts must not be running while calling this
 * function or the penguins will get angry. */
        linux-2.2.16/drivers/usb/ohci.c
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