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Bill Gates Owes His Career To Steven Spielberg's Dad; You May, Too

Posted by timothy on from the our-fathers'-fathers'-fathers dept.

theodp writes: On the 51st birthday of the BASIC programing language, GE Reports decided it was finally time to give-credit-where-credit-was-long-overdue, reporting that Arnold Spielberg, the 98-year-old father of Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, helped revolutionize computing when he designed the GE-225 mainframe computer. The machine allowed a team of Dartmouth University students and researchers to develop BASIC, which quickly spread and ushered in the era of personal computers. BASIC helped kickstart many computing careers, include those of Bill Gates and Paul Allen, as well as Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Responsible for Apple and Microsoft both? by Z80a · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They're terrible, but not 1980 IBM terrible.
    If you think the "think different" fanboys are bad, its because you didn't seen the "Nobody got fired for buying an IBM" ones.

  2. More like to his own parents by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's well-documented that Billy Gates' success is largely due to having rich and well-connected parents.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:More like to his own parents by tomhath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Lots of people have rich and well connected parents. There's only one Microsoft.

    2. Re:More like to his own parents by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

      , although he certainly is spending a lot of money to Rockefeller his way into a cushier spot in the history books.

      Which should be encouraged. Few people are all good or all bad, and there are certainly worse things he could do with his money.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  3. Re:Theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You need BASIC to steal someone else's operating system and run a company based on illegal anti-competitive business practices?

    Oh FFS already. Let... it... go.

    Is it really necessary to have this pent-up rage and hate over a company for so long? There's a reason Slashdotters are seen as a joke - they can't move on. I don't see the value in the emotional effort to keep hating for so long. It's a waste of energy. No-one else cares anymore... except on Slashdot.

    Move on with your life.

  4. Oh Puh-lease! by lophophore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If it had not been a GE machine at Dartmouth, it would have been something else that Kemeny and Kurtz wrote BASIC on.

    What utter claptrap. Ridiculous.

    --
    there are 3 kinds of people:
    * those who can count
    * those who can't