IBM never showed enough interest or vision in microcomputer futures. I quit IBM in 1979 to work with some former colleagues on microcomputer software development. My IBM manager would have walked me if I had been joining a competitor. This was the rule of the day. He said to me, "I don't ever see IBM getting into that market, you can work out your notice period" , (4 weeks).
At that time, there was no IBM PC, IBM was DP or OP (Data processing or Office products). I worked for OP in software implementation for internal systems. DP always assumed the senior position when bidding for sales. We had the Series/1, System 34/38, Photocopiers, Selectric etc. Not hard to see why IBM had no futurist identifying the "personal computer". It was monolithic thinking. That's the SNA mindset, one big hub with dumb terminals. It worked well but missed a lot of potential for small business and artisans. So we as a small business took on the challenge. We had CP/M, MP/M, Apple Basic, NorthStar Horizon, Cromemco, early MicroFocus COBOL and 8080 Assembler to master. Long nights reading Dr Dobbs journal for hints. It was challenging and we found it hard to make money. There was no venture capital, all the money was still in box shifting. One big customer saw our Catering stock control system and said, "Is it 3270 compatible?". LOL. After a few years of trying, we went back to mainframe consulting and that served me well for another forty years. Somebody once said, "It's the vision thing". That and luck and timing. On Tue, Aug 15, 2023 at 5:15 AM Grant Taylor < 0000023065957af1-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > On 8/14/23 3:16 PM, Bob Bridges wrote: > > I sort of agree, but I think underneath we still disagree. I agree > > that IBM didn't think the PC software was worth developing. And if > > they had held onto MS-DOS and approached its development in the same > > way that Microsoft did, sure, they'd probably be worth bazillions. > > My hang up is that -- as I understand it -- DOS was /never/ IBM's to > start with. > > DOS was /Microsoft's/. > > Or are you suggesting that IBM should have purchased exclusive rights to > use / distribute / etc DOS from Microsoft? > > > > Grant. . . . > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > -- Wayne V. Bickerdike ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
