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Fifty years of the personal computer operating system
Fifty years ago, PC software pioneer Gary Kildall demonstrated CP/M, the first commercially successful personal computer operating system.
This work earned him a consulting relationship with the company to develop PL/M, a high-level programming language that played a significant role in establishing Intel as the dominant supplier of chips for personal computers. They sold CP/M disks via mail order and walked to the post office every workday to pick up checks resulting from ads placed in industry magazines such as Byte and Dr. Dobbs' Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia. Bill Gates knew Gary from early discussions about merging their companies and setting up shop in Pacific Grove, so when an IBM procurement team visited Microsoft to license the BASIC interpreter program, he referred them to DRI for an operating system.
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