[HN Gopher] PC-86-DOS ___________________________________________________________________ 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. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-09-03 23:02 UTC)