Want another trivia question?

[PCSolutions]

The first Trivia question was too easy so here is another.This is a 3 part question. You must answer all 3 parts correctly

In the early days of computing, Bill Gates sold a product to IBM. This product contributed greatly to the makings of Microsoft. At the close of the deal, Microsoft literally had nothing to sell to IBM. They had no product to provide

1. What was the product?
2. Where was it purchased?
3. How much did Microsoft pay for it?



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Keep it simple!

[maxximilian]

It was an operating system purchased in Oregon for $50,000.

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I crash...therefore I am.

[mildmanneredj]

In my searches for the answer, I came upon this (very funny):

Bill Gates Interview

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Mmmmmm.....Naaaachos.

[poppy4]

On August 12, 1981, IBM introduced its' new revolution in a box, the "Personal Computer" complete with a brand new operating system from Microsoft and a 16-bit computer operating system called MS-DOS 1.0.

Trivia from "Dogpile".

I gotta go be poopy again. Hey Smurf that's what my youngest GranDaughter calls
me.

oh sheeeesh, fergot about the three parts. Duh?

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Please post back.
Thanks, Poppy.

[This message has been edited by POPPY4 (edited 03-09-2001).]

[Vernon Frazee]

Brief "DOS" Timeline:

1980

• April - Tim Patterson, who works for Seattle Computer Products, begins writing an operating system for a computer he's assembling based on Intel's new 8086 CPU.
  
• August - QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) version 0.10 ships. Even though it had been created in only two man-months, the DOS worked surprisingly well.
  
• September - Tim Patterson shows QDOS to Microsoft.
  
• October - Microsoft's Paul Allen contacts Tim Patterson, asking for the rights to sell QDOS to an unnamed client (IBM).
  
• December - Tim Patterson renames QDOS to 86-DOS, releasing it as version 0.3. Microsoft buys non-exclusive rights to market 86-DOS for close to $50,000 (US).

1981

• February - MS-DOS runs for the first time on IBM's prototype microcomputer.
  
• July - Microsoft buys all rights to 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, and the name "MS-DOS" (Microsoft Disk Operating System) is adopted.
  
• August 12th - IBM announces their new IBM 5150 PC Personal Computer featuring PC-DOS (Microsoft's MS-DOS) version 1.00.

--

So, the answer to your questions are:
[list=1][*]The product was Seattle Computer Products/Tim Patterson's Q/86-DOS
[*]Q/86-DOS was purchased in Seattle, Washington, (assumably at Seattle Computer Products)
[*]Microsoft paid close to $50,000 (US) for exclusive rights to Q/86-DOS[/list=a]

[PCSolutions]

And there we have it
Seattle Computer Poducts QDOS
Some call it the business deal of the century

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Keep it simple!

[maxximilian]

Since I was the first person to attempt an answer, I would like to request partial credit. I had the price correct, I was only one state away on location, and I was vaguely correct on it being an operating system. Cut me some slack on this one, I got my butt kicked in the MACH 2 show and I'm grasping at straws now. I'm willing to accept a C+ or a B- on this test. Is it negotiable?

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I crash...therefore I am.

[PCSolutions]

You, and everyone, gets an A for effort!

This is for fun, this is only for fun!
Just might learn something too

I have next weeks question already planned
It has to do with your mouse

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Keep it simple!

[tracman]

So why wait until next week. Lets have it.

[dacomputers]

I was present in Minneapolis when IBM rolled out the first PC. Invitations went out to selected programmers and companies. They had only a prototype to show and were offering deals to anyone who wanted to develop programs for the new system. At that time they had not yet decided if they were going to use CPM (which was a well known operating system at that time), or another unknown and untried operating system.

The decision came some months later. IBM named the new operating system DOS, the same name as the operating system they were using on their 360/370 mainframes.

Only later, when Microsoft started providing their own "DOS" to Compaq and other upstart companies, did the name MS-DOS come into being to denote the difference between theirs and IBM's.

While MS-DOS operated like the IBM version, It did not include the widely used "BASIC" computer language. "BASIC" was THE language to write personal computer programs in. IBM closely held the copyright on their onboard "BASIC" command interpreter which resided in a BIOS chip. It made IBM's "BASIC" faster than the software based after-market "BASIC"'s that the MS-DOS machines were forced to use.

DA