[geeks] Microsoft Surface...

[Mike Murphy]

>> Well, leave out the CPM rip-off. MS did no worse that GK did when he
ripped
>> off PS/8, OS/8, RT/11, DOS/15 and for that matter even the PDP/8 4K DMS.
PIP
>> wasn't his thought. I'm not sure where DEC folks might have come up with
the
>> idea. Nevermind. Thanks to Wikipedia, I once again remember or think I do.

>Um... you are talking apples an oranges.

>Gary Killdall based CP/M on existing work, yes, but he still wrote the code
>and most of the design was his or other CP/M guys who worked on it later.

>That is *NOT* what Microsoft did.  They didn't base MS-DOS on anything, they
>just did minor alterations to QDOS, and ripped the owner off.

>You might even say it was the original creator's fault, but that doesn't
>change the fact that MS-DOS and CP/M are fundamentally different in how they
>were "created".

>I think people here would mind Microsoft far less if they'd simply tell the
>truth: we copied XYZ from ABC and marketed it, rather than constantly lying
to
>the world and claiming an act of creation or innovation.

>I have no problem with people reselling technology.  My problem is when they
>break it, steal it, and or claim to have created it.

Sorry for not being clear. It was the design that was copied, not the code.
8080 et.al. assembler not the same as PAL-8 we'll agree. "Most of the design
was his..." is arguable. I mostly agree with all the rest of your comments
though I think my comment about honor and predators covers your last two
paragraphs (I emphasize that I heartily agree with you). Examples of the right
way, IMO, are the way the linux(tm) folk acknowledge the Unix(tm) roots,the
way that DR & KT acknowledge Multics, and the way Richie Lary acknowledged
PDP-10 OSs (leaving out the apostrophe this time to avoid argument) for
(PS/OS)/8. The bad way is the way of Apples, Oranges, and Microsoft wrt
acknowledgement of, again for example, previous windowing innovators. Instead
they patent the obvious and the prior art, pretending it is their own. Sucky,
I think, but I'm using OWA to write this. How low can I get, casting blame
while I use their tool? It's kind of a clunky tool, too, and I should switch
to an open-source environment. Maybe later, perhaps this summer, I'll try to
go cold-turkey and run in a completely non-MS mode. Maybe not though, I'd have
to switch my Q-phone to a linux-based phone and that'd cost money...

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