learn more...IBM and several other PC manufacturers all sold customized versions of Microsoft's MS-DOS, and that there was a competitor called DR-DOS. Gary Kildall, whom we left several pages ago spurning IBM's offer to create the operating system for the PC, went on to finish his 16-bit operating system, called CP/M-86. Kildall sued IBM and Microsoft for copying CP/M, and eventually reached a settlement whereby IBM agreed to offer CP/M-86 in addition to PC-DOS. And IBM did offer CP/M-86, for $240 a copy, versus $40 for PC-DOS. It didn't sell well. By 1987, Kildall had abandoned the idea of promoting CP/M in the 16-bit world. Killdall's company Digital Research eventually produced an MS-DOS clone called DR-DOS, which never, as they say, made the big bucks, but did force Microsoft to significantly lower its prices and make enhancements to MS-DOS that otherwise might never have been made. Anyone who's used edit to edit a text file has Digital Research to thank. Digital Research also produced GEM, a graphical operating system that predated and competed with Windowsmore on that shortly. DR-DOS ultimately did not survive, although various legal battles continued. In 2000, Microsoft paid Digital Research's successor company a reputed $150$200 million to settle suits over the licensing and marketing practices that drove DR-DOS under. Besides DR-DOS, other operating systems came and went, or came and stayed, including these more popular ones:
Other operating systems were developed, including a multiuser dBASE-like system that I remember seeing once, but they've faded to total obscurity. |
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