Microsoft and Unix/Linux (Myths and IP)

[Charles philip Chan]

On 30 Dec 2006, evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org wrote:

> Actually, that's not totally accurate. "Most hobbyist machines" at the
> time the IBM PC was introduced were using AppleDOS or TRS-DOS or some
> other very vendor-specific OS. 

Yes, and each one have a different floppy format. I still remember the
nightmare.

> The _business_ systems used CP/M because it was necessary to run
> business apps such as Visicalc or dBASE or stuff written in
> COBOL. Osbornes and Kaypros were hardly what anyone would call
> "hobbyist systems".

Yes, I was thinking more along the lines of the Osbourne and Kaypro,
rather then the Trash-80 or PET. Of course you are correct that they are
not really hobbyist machines.

> The first Microsoft product I encountered predated the IBM-PC by some
> years. It was a kit that included a card that went into an Apple ][
> with a Z80 processor, CP/M and MS-BASIC. That allowed one to run all
> of those business apps (and use BASIC to write more) on an Apple.

I remember that.

> In fact, when you purchased one of the original IBM PCs, you were
> given a choice -- PC-DOS (IBM's OEM version of MS-DOS 1.1) at $70, or
> CP/M-86 which cost more than $300. You could but either, but most
> naturally chose the less expensive option.

I didn't know you were given a choice. However, MS-DOS was a toy
compared to CP/M in those days. At least CP/M have some type of
multi-users concept. Of course CP/M was like a toy when compared to
Unix. :-)

> I don't ever recall 1-2-3 ever being available on pre-IBM CP/M. IIRC
> it was, in fact, the IBM PC's "killer app" that obsoleted Visicalc
> almost overnight.

I still have the Lotus 123 floppy along with WordStar 1.0, DBase, etc,
for my Osbourne IIB, so I know it predates DOS. I also have a 8080
daughter board for my Ossie that can run MS-DOS 1.0, however I don't
have any DOS apps from those days.

Charles

-- 
printk("ufs_read_super: fucking Sun blows me\n");
        linux-2.0.38/fs/ufs/ufs_super.c
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