Keith wrote:
Charles Babbage created the first computer in 1880 something... wasn't a computer as we see it of course. Bill (William) Gates just created new software for alternative interfacing with computers so they were accessible by people without a degree in computers
Actually, Gary Kildall did!! !!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_KildallIt IS interesting that he was born in the same place Microsoft started! He started BEFORE M/S, and created an O/S. ANOTHER company created a knockoff of that O/S for the 8086, and a little company called Microsoft "licensed" it. That knockoff O/S was renamed M/S DOS or PC DOS! Anyway, Kildall supposedly ALSO created the first high level language for PCs ALSO! TWO YEARS before M/S even started!
From wikipedia:
Quote:
Personal life
Kildall's colleagues recall him as creative, easygoing, and adventurous. In addition to flying, he loved sports cars, auto racing, and boating, and he had a lifelong love of the sea.[1][2]
Although Kildall preferred to leave the IBM affair in the past and to be known for his work before and afterward, he continually faced comparisons between himself and Bill Gates and fading memories of his contributions. A legend grew around the fateful IBM-DRI meeting (encouraged by Gates and various journalists), suggesting that Kildall had irresponsibly taken the day off for a recreational flight, and he tired of constantly having to refute that story.[7] In later years, he had occasional private expressions of bitterness over being upstaged by Microsoft.[2]
Kildall was particularly annoyed when the University of Washington asked him, as a distinguished graduate, to attend their computer science program anniversary in 1992, but gave the keynote speech to college dropout Gates. In response he started writing his memoir, Computer Connections.[9] The memoir, which he distributed only to a few friends, expressed his frustration that people did not seem to value elegance in software,[12] and it said of Gates, "He is divisive. He is manipulative. He is a user. He has taken much from me and the industry." In an appendix he called DOS "plain and simple theft" because its first 26 system calls worked the same as CP/M's.[13] Harold Evans used the memoir as a source for a chapter about Kildall in the 2004 book They Made America, concluding that Microsoft had robbed Kildall of his inventions.[7] IBM veterans from the PC project disputed the book's description of events, and Microsoft described it as "one-sided and inaccurate."[9]
Selling DRI to Novell had made Kildall a wealthy man, and he moved to the West Lake Hills suburb of Austin. His Austin house was a lakeside property, with stalls for several sports cars, plus a video studio in the basement. Kildall owned and flew his own Lear jet and had at least one boat on the lake. While in Austin he also participated in volunteer efforts to assist children with AIDS. In California, he owned a mansion with a panoramic ocean view in Pebble Beach.
[edit] Death
On July 8, 1994, Kildall fell at a Monterey, California restaurant. The circumstances of the fall remain unclear, with various sources claiming he fell from a chair, fell down steps, or was assaulted. He checked in and out of the hospital twice, and died three days later at the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula. The coroner's report identified the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head. There was also evidence that he had experienced a heart attack, but an autopsy did not conclusively determine the cause of death.[13][14][15] He was buried in Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery in North Seattle.
[edit] Recognition
In March 1995, Kildall was posthumously honored by the Software Publishers Association (now the Software and Information Industry Association) for his contributions to the microcomputer industry:[2]
Introduction of operating systems with preemptive multitasking and windowing capabilities and menu-driven user interfaces.
Creation of the first diskette track buffering schemes, read-ahead algorithms, file directory caches, and RAM disk emulators.
Introduction of a binary recompiler in the 1980s.
The first programming language and first compiler specifically for microprocessors.
The first microprocessor disk operating system, which eventually sold a quarter of a million copies.
The first computer interface for video disks to allow automatic nonlinear playback, presaging today's interactive multimedia.
The file system and data structures for the first consumer CD-ROM.
The first successful open system architecture by segregating system-specific hardware interfaces in a set of BIOS routines.
At the time of Kildall's death, Bill Gates commented that he was "one of the original pioneers of the PC revolution" and "a very creative computer scientist who did excellent work."[1]
13 Sep 2008, 5:49 pm
