The TRS-80 I bought came with both Basic and
Assembly Language teaching guides, and that was
it. To make the machine work one had to program.
I didn't mean to imply that Bill Gates developed
it. It's well known that MS borrowed stuff when
they needed to from where ever the could get it.
That's business.
I'm not an MS fan but Bill Gates was the one who
gave away a very cheep, borrowed but improved,
copy of DOS to computer sellers. These copies
could also be copied to floppies (8 inch). So,
DOS 3.3 was used by computer sellers, to install
DOS on the buyers machine, (intel 286) free.
On the other hand, IBM sold the same package for
$50.00.
I got the free copy of MS 3.3 with my 286.
After that, Windows 3.0 cost me $25.00,
Windows 3.1 cost me $30.00,
DOS upgrade from3.3 to 6.22 cost
me $55.00.
Since then I purchased Win 95, $100.00
and Win 98. $125.00.
And, all for testing software that I produced for
people that use that stuff.
Bill Gates probably can't program any software to
write "Hello World" on any screen, but I'll bet
he knows how to fill out a deposit ticket.
I think Bill Gates recognize early that the money
is in the marketing of the product, not the
programming of it. How else can you explain the
success of Windows, like it or not?
jim-on-linux
http://www.inqvista.com
On Friday 24 November 2006 17:18, Dennis Lee
Bieber wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 16:56:58 -0500,
> jim-on-linux <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> declaimed the following in comp.lang.python:
> > That was when bill gates just left Harvard,
> > basic was brand new, and 4k of memory was
>
> Pardon? I'd learned BASIC back around 1972, in
> the 9th grade, using an ASR-33 with dial-up to
> some company's Honeywell-Bull system.
>
> BASIC is one of the ancients in languages,
> predating Pascal and C.
>
> Just because Gates managed to scrabble
> together a BASIC interpreter for the MITS
> Altair, and then had it picked up by other
> makers of 8080/Z-80 based "microcomputers"
> doesn't make it "brand new". (Personally, I
> suspect he hasn't done any programming ever
> since that day, and is probably still trying to
> find some way to sue Kemeny&Kurtz (sp?s) over
> their own creation)
> --
> Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber KD6MOG
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
> (Bestiaria Support
> Staff: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
> HTTP://www.bestiaria.com/
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