I was recently given a copy of Paul Allen’s autobiography, Idea Man. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve skimmed the parts where I had a role. And my first reaction is:
Really Paul, you don’t know how to spell my name?
Other than that, everything that mentioned me seemed totally accurate.
Paul was my direct supervisor in my first stint at Microsoft (I think at that time everyone reported to either Paul or Bill). He conducted my face-to-face performance review in 1981. That review turned out to have an interesting moment.
When I was hired at Microsoft, I signed a modified employment agreement. The usual agreement would have given Microsoft the rights to anything I thought up while I worked there; the modification limited the scope to work that I was assigned to do. The purpose of the change was to allow me to consult for my previous employer, Seattle Computer Products.
So while employed by Microsoft, I was a consultant to SCP, with Microsoft’s blessing. As an SCP consultant I designed an add-in card for the IBM PC that SCP sold as the RAM+. This was a memory card that also included a serial port. SCP priced it slightly less than IBM’s price for the memory card alone, and it was a huge success. The IBM PC only had five add-in slots, one of which was always taken up by a video card, so a multi-function card was particularly appealing.
During my December 1981 performance review, I learned from Paul that Microsoft was planning to come out with an IBM PC add-in memory card. It surprised me that Microsoft was getting into the hardware business. I had to tell Paul that I had designed what would be a competitive card for SCP. He was an easy-going guy, and just said something like “don’t do it again.” I was relieved to not be in any trouble. (I’m not sure if I had reported to Bill that I would have gotten off so easily.)
14 comments:
Chevy HHR Turbocharger
Hat’s off. Well done, as we know that “hard work always pays off”, after a long struggle with sincere effort it’s done.
Hi Tim
I wrote here only to tell you that It's shocking to me to know that you, creator of MS-DOS, actually has not as relevance as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs (business genius, not computer's genius) or even Paul Allen.
I discovered your history and your name recently, watching "Pirates of Silicon Valley" and looking for more information.
Congratulations for your good work in MS-DOS and I was happy to hear you if you come to some conference at Barcelona (Spain).
Regards!!!!
Finally i found the blog of the man who wrote DOS. Great Work Tim..
It's an honor to post a comment in this blog. I am of no importance to post a comment anyway. Hats off to your work.
Hi Tim, I am honored that the original author of DOS / MSDOS will read my post. What a history! I've followed your story for a number of years. I realize that the story of the PC would have quite a different ending had it not been for you. In your honor and for your contributions I continually repeat accurately your involvement to the foundations of the computer industry. Thank you. Best regards,
Jimmy Zecca
I just have been skimming through the posst and I am impressed about the density of the topic along with the easy readability ... a true expert writing!!! I am looking forward to my commute back home to continue reading on my mobile
I found your blog from the recent source release of MS-DOS, great read thanks for publishing the code!
Hello Mr Paterson - Tim.
I've been trying to get a hold of you, and to use you [and my family name] to rise up, and find a destiny.
My grandfather is Rodney Brock of Seattle Computer Products. Please get a hold of me soon: tiberiusfury@gmail.com :or: jonha.silverworm@hush.com
Hi thanks for all your hard work in the computer industry , I am trying to get ahold of Barrett Williams who worked for Seattle Software Design in the mid 80's any ideas as to how ?. I used to live in Issaquah in the mid 80's as well and loved it , great town. Hope my memory serves correctly.
What ever happen to Rodney Brock?
Hi Tim,
I came here after the sad news of Paul allen's passing wondering if you had any stories about him. Yes you did! Cool. Thanks for DOS - I used it and CP/M before it. It's the last time I felt fully knew an OS inside and out. After DOS things became just too big and complex to know everything without reference to a manal.
I became a programmer but started with Basic and professionally with Pascal. I used assembly on Z80s and at Uni but could never imagine writing a whole OS in such a low level language. You did an amazing thing.
Cheers. Have a nice day.
Caro Tim è giunto il tempo in cui il tuo background deve incontrare dei numeri. Non c'è dubbio che ciò che hai creato sia stato per Bill Gaetes e Paul Allen non solo la chiave che per un lungo periodo di tempo ha generato e continua una fonte inesauribile di ricchezza che consente loro di permanere nella top ten degli uomini più ricchi e influenti del mondo ma è secondo me,in una realtà cinica come quella degli usa,necessario far tesoro delle fantastiche capacità di cui disponi e andare avanti perché è chiaro che i'entourage del mondo informatico che ti circonda ti teme e ti rispetta. Ciò va fatto al fine di dare una mano ad un sano sviluppo dei Big Data che nell'immediato futuro diverranno unità robotiche in grado tramite accurati algoritmi di poter essere la svolta in mondi ancora molto in dietro rispetto ai tempi attuali. Watson che nel 2011 ha stupito il mondo vincendo a Geopardy è stato solo un piccolissimo esempio di ciò che i Big Data potranno portare a noi umani dal punto di vista del supporto logistico e problem solving. Il futuro verrà più presto che tardi interessato da nuove basilari Figure operative ovvero uomini che diverranno i cosiddetti Demiurghi dei Big Data atti a suddividere per branche di specifico interesse come Sanità,Alimentazione,mobilità ecc. ovvero veri e propri micromondi virtuali che rappresenteranno per gli umani l'enorme passo avanti verso l'intelligenza artificiale ottimale . Ovvero unità robotiche in grado di affrontare interventi chirurgici di estrema precisione in sito o a distanza mediante strumenti chirurgici gestiti tramite realtà virtuale. Ciò che voglio dire senza remore alcune è che la nuova vera rivoluzione della Slicon Valley deve attraverso un unione di forze fatte da chi è stato sfruttato e messo da parte dai colossi dell'informatica. Pensaci Tim :"Non è finita fino a che non è finita" G.T.
Tim,
The "One T" curse. Know that well.
v/r
Tim Paterson
Hi Tim,
Your work is one of the reasons we have developed super-advanced operating systems like DOS and eventually Windows, which have also influenced others and laid the groundwork for any other advanced operating system.
I really have an idea that we think is really good and will change the way we use our computer's today. Is there any way we can contract with you?
Thanks
Ashutosh
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