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MS-DOS Paternity Dispute Goes to Court

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the dos-padres dept.

theodp writes "Might be more interesting as a Who's-My-Baby's-Daddy? segment on Maury, but a Court has been asked to decide the parentage of MS-DOS. Tim Paterson, whose operating system 86-DOS (aka QDOS) was sold to Microsoft in 1980, is suing author Harold Evans and Time Warner for defamation. In his book They Made America, Evans devoted a chapter to the late, great Gary Kildall, founder of Digital Research, describing Paterson's software as a 'rip-off' and 'a slapdash clone' of Kildall's CP/M."

19 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. Confused by k96822 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm... I'm confused... somebody wants to admit they created MS-DOS?

    1. Re:Confused by osewa77 · · Score: 5, Funny
      I'm... I'm confused... somebody wants to admit they created MS-DOS?
      This is called Masochism :-P
    2. Re:Confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ah, so that's why the older hands called it "S/M-DOS" back in the day...

  2. MacKiDo by fembots · · Score: 4, Funny

    describing Paterson's software as a 'rip-off' and 'a slapdash clone' of Kildall's CP/M.

    Meanwhile, Bill is organizing an army of lawyers, and suddenly "Oh wait, they aren't talking about me!".

    http://www.mackido.com/History/History_DrDos.htm l

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
    1. Re:MacKiDo by kryogen1x · · Score: 2, Funny
      Meanwhile, Bill is organizing an army of lawyers...

      Hey, he might organize an army of knights now.

  3. Sweet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    There is nothing funnier that two geeks in a slap fight.

  4. I'd be suing... by Mark_MF-WN · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd be suing over the title of the book -- correct me if I'm wrong, but Microsoft didn't build america. In fact, I'm pretty sure America was already quite well established by 1980, seeing as how they it was a global superpower at the time.

    1. Re:I'd be suing... by Alien+Being · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Microsoft didn't build america"

      Microsoft bilked America.

  5. You always love your first born more by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... OK, Bill isn't the biological father, but he's still damn proud.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
    1. Re:You always love your first born more by k96822 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I just can't figure out why he kidnapped a severely mentally handicapped child. MS-DOS is the best case for abortion I can think of. Nothing that bad should live. Certainly, it shouldn't breed!

    2. Re:You always love your first born more by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Funny
      I would be proud to have MSDOS on my resume, as would most serious software architects.
      MSDOS was used by millions of users, it was a true groundbreaker.
      You mean, like McDonald's?
  6. Al, not Vidal by starglider29a · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought Gore invented DOS!

  7. Who cares? by BigAlexK · · Score: 4, Funny

    I couldn't give a toss,
    who made MSDOS,
    All I know,
    is I broke my toe,
    kicking the damn computer out the (MS) Window,
    when once again,
    I'd rather have used a pen,
    to write down all my precious source code.
    Amen.

  8. DNA Samples by Snommis · · Score: 3, Funny
    I still have my original DOS floppies - I could offer them up so they can take samples for DNA analysis...

    Maury: "Mr. Gates, you are NOT DOS's father!" Bill: "Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I done TOLD you it ain't my baby!"

    --
    Face it, do something enough times, and it can cause problems.
  9. They do have the same noses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    C>
    A>

  10. Re:Hm... by philkerr · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wrote MS-DOS.....

    No, I Wote MS-DOS.......

    No, I wrote MS-DOS, and so did my wife!

  11. Why does this remind me of SCO? by pg110404 · · Score: 2, Funny

    mcbride - has 'rights' to code, sues IBM

    paterson - has 'rights' to code, sues evans and time warner

    Maybe jerry springer can do a show on frivolous lawsuits. I'd like to see the CEOs of each of the involved parties throw chairs at each other and punch each other silly.

    I wonder if they'd get any brain damage. I wonder if some of them even have enough brains to get brain damage.

    Then maury could do a show on CEOs that got brain damaged during a staged tv talk show.

    At any event this is all (lawsuits included) about as productive as monkeys flinging feces at each other.

  12. Re:QDOS was as CP/M compatible as possible by Don+Negro · · Score: 2, Funny

    Doing it "dirty" takes more time in the end.

    Rimshot!

    --

    Don Negro
    Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall

  13. Re:All those rivers in Egypt! by fm6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dean Swift obviously never hung out at Slashdot!