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Gary Kildall, Father of the PC OS, Finally Gets His Due

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-a-moment-too-soon dept.

theodp writes: "GeekWire reports that Gary Kildall, the creator of the landmark personal computer operating system CP/M, will be recognized posthumously by the IEEE for that contribution, in addition to his invention of BIOS, with a rare IEEE Milestone plaque. Kildall, who passed away in 1994 at the age of 52, has been called the man who could have been Bill Gates. But according to Kildall's son, his dad wasn't actually interested in being what Bill Gates became: 'He was a real inventor,' said Scott Kildall. 'He was much more interested in creating new ideas and bringing them to the world, rather than being the one that was bringing them to market and leveraging a huge amount of profits. He was such a kind human being. He was always sharing his ideas, and would sit down with people and show flowcharts of what he was thinking. I think if he were around for the open-source movement, he would be such a huge proponent of it.' Techies of a certain age will also remember Gary's work as a co-host of Computer Chronicles."

5 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. He couldn't have been Bill Gates... by Kenja · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It wasn't about the creation, but the leveraging.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:He couldn't have been Bill Gates... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This. Gates was ruthless from the get-go, the kid read multiple biographies of Napolean for chrissakes. He read biographies of people like JP Morgan, back when you couldn't even find them without trekking to a major university library.

      If Kildall had struck an exclusive deal with IBM, he would've probably made a few tens of millions USD before retiring or being out-maneuvered by businessmen of Gates' caliber.

  2. The best recognition.. by ThatsDrDangerToYou · · Score: 5, Insightful
    is this: " He was such a kind human being. He was always sharing his ideas, and would sit down with people and show flowcharts of what he was thinking."

    We could use more like him. To be recognized by IEEE is great, but greater still to leave this legacy to his kids and the community.

  3. well, he said it was a weekend hack by samantha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I met him back in the 70s. He said that CP/M was something he hacked up one weekend out of frustration with other things available at the time or rather the dearth of much of anything. He wasn't at all impressed by having done so. He wondered why people thought it was a big deal.

    So sorry to hear that we lost him and so very young.

  4. Re: I met Gary by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The cheap solution was the rest of the market beyond Apple and IBM. It wasn't the platform with the IBM trademark associated with it. The PC initially exploited it's association with the original IBM product and then Bill Gates and Microsoft ran with it from there once they already had commanding position in the market due to someone else's trademark.

    Microsoft is ultimately the extension of someone else's monopoly.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.