Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

6 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. 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.
  3. Sweet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  4. 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.
  5. 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.