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CP/M Creator Gary Kildall's Memoirs Released As Free Download (ieee.org)
An anonymous reader writes from IEEE Spectrum: The year before his death in 1994, Gary Kildall -- inventor of the early microcomputer operating system CP/M -- wrote a draft of a memoir, "Computer Connections: People, Places, and Events in the Evolution of the Personal Computer Industry." He distributed copies to family and friends, but died before realizing his plans to release it as a book. This week, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, with the permission of Kildall's children, released the first section and it is available for a free download. The rest of it, which they say did not reflect his true self, will not be made public.
Cool free censorship.
"Unfortunately Gary’s passion for life also manifested in a struggle with alcoholism, and we feel that the unpublished preface and later chapters do not reflect his true self."
> The rest of it, which they say did not reflect his true self, will not be made public.
Kidall was a giant influence on computing. When they say not his true self, they are I presume referring to the melancholy he fell into after the IBM deal crashed and burned. Many of us have to deal with professional failure sooner or later (What young grasshopper? You think you're immortal and Einstein and will be the next Apple? You have some soul breaking lessons ahead of you in life....) Learning about Kidall's journey could help others. Denying it doesn't help anyone, or take away from who Kidall was. It makes him more human. Only the truth can set you free.
Cue 300 posts about fateful IBM CP/M DOS day. Gates "Winners" version is widely accepted but that doesn't mean it's true. Journalists have looked closely into it and found there are so many different stories by those involved, inconsistencies and foggy memories that no one knows what really happened. Think unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Now add an Olympic size swimming pool of ego.
His struggle with alcoholism and the results was part of his true self. Just his children only want to see the positives. Can't blame them but saying it is not part of his true self is not correct.
As we know, censorship is really hard to do well. A copy has already been sold at auction And they quote some of the good bits: The trigger for writing the book was apparently his pique when the University of Washington asked him, as a distinguished graduate, to attend their computer sciences anniversary in 1992, but gave the keynote speech to dropout Gates. ...
"he said of Gates, He is divisive. He is manipulative. He is a user. He has taken much from me and the industry..."
Alcohol takes away inhibitions and the fear of consequences, but it doesn't radically alter the things you're already feeling inside.
I've known people who get violent when they're drunk. Hell, it's happened to me. Doesn't mean a propensity for violence is part of your "true self." Generally, people who lash out at their friends when they're drunk usually feel ashamed of it the next day.
Alcohol alters your thinking. Some of the ways it alters it might be positive. Others, not so much. True, it doesn't take your entire personality away and turn you into a different person, so of course the things you think when you're drunk will be your own thoughts, and the things you say will be things that only you would think up. But to say that drinking reveals your inner self is a romantic notion -- the kind of thing that wannabe musicians and failed novelists cling to -- that doesn't jibe with reality.
Breakfast served all day!