[HN Gopher] PC-86-DOS
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PC-86-DOS
Author : kencausey
Score : 76 points
Date : 2021-09-03 16:45 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.os2museum.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.os2museum.com)
| [deleted]
| Crontab wrote:
| This website has had so many interesting articles over the years.
| I really appreciate it.
| cmrdporcupine wrote:
| Reading the history of Seattle Computer Products at
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Computer_Products it's kind
| of depressing ... out of the whole deal with Microsoft they seem
| to have ended up with an initial $75k from Microsoft in 1981
| ($225k in today's dollars) and then an out of court settlement
| for $925k in 1985 ($2.3m in today's dollars).
|
| EDIT: It does seem like the actual programmer, Tim Patterson, did
| better out of it. After working for SCP, he worked a couple
| stints at Microsoft, and wrote and sold MSX-DOS for the MSX
| machines as well.
| garaetjjte wrote:
| Filfre has, as always, great story about it:
| https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-2/
| https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-3/
|
| >Paul Allen negotiated an agreement with SCP owner Rod Brock in
| January, implying that Microsoft had a whole stable of
| customers eager to run 86-DOS. The deal would essentially allow
| Microsoft to act as middleman -- or, if you like, retailer --
| in these transactions. For each customer to whom they sold a
| license for 86-DOS, they would pay SCP $10,000, or $15,000 if
| the license also included the source code. [...] One clause
| buried in the contract might have raised a red flag: "Nothing
| in this licensing agreement shall require Microsoft to identify
| its customer to Seattle Computer Products." Brock later said,
| "That seemed strange to us, but we agreed to go along." In
| reality, of course, Microsoft had no stable of eager licensees.
| They had just one, the biggest fish of all: IBM. Microsoft sold
| just one license under the agreement, acquiring IBM's operating
| system for them complete with source for just $25,000.
| ttul wrote:
| Honestly, that's why you hire good counsel when doing an OEM
| agreement. It's not an easy type of agreement to write. So
| many potential loopholes by which either party can screw the
| other, as Microsoft clearly did here.
| WalterBright wrote:
| If Tim had invested the proceeds in MSFT, he'd have done all
| right.
|
| Of course, history is full of "what ifs" which can drive one
| crazy.
| ffhhj wrote:
| What if...
|
| > After Microsoft objected to Brock's "exaggerated
| interpretation" of the agreement and informed Brock that his
| license was nontransferable, Brock sued for US$60 million.
| The ensuing lawsuit was highly technical and grew to fill
| hundreds of pages in the months leading up to trial. The
| trial began at the end of 1986 and lasted three weeks. An
| out-of-court settlement was reached while the jury was
| deliberating. Microsoft paid SCP US$925,000 and reclaimed its
| license for DOS.
|
| Wow! $60M would have killed the 80's version of MicroSoft.
| cmrdporcupine wrote:
| And imagine if Brock had settled for $925,000 worth of MSFT
| instead of cash. MSFT was $0.10 at IPO in 1986 (accounting
| for splits, actual price was $21 pre-split) , so he'd have
| had about 9.5 million shares (after all splits). If he'd
| kept the stock, it'd be worth $2.9 billion now. Not
| including any dividends.
|
| EDIT: Also, clearly the "$60M" was not a number conjured
| out of thin air. That's basically Microsoft's market cap at
| IPO. Suppose Brock was fundamentally trying to make the
| point that MS's entire financial success had been built off
| of this deal.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I wish I could tell my past self to buy MSFT!
| gscott wrote:
| Buy now, with going to the cloud the stock will just go
| up.
| xenadu02 wrote:
| Too bad they didn't insist on some shares in the deal. That
| would have paid off quite well!
| kencausey wrote:
| I doubt that Microsoft looked like a great bet in 1981.
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(page generated 2021-09-03 23:02 UTC)