OSDev.org

Bill Gates was never directly employed by IBM

Microsoft has freely givin the specs to FAT since its incarnation -- just look in ANY old DOS reference this (i belive) entitles anyone to use it royalty free

also who started the lie that MS stole GUI from Apple?
the truth is windows was under develoopment long before MAC came out and Gates visited PARC around the same time Jobs did -- and i think(not sure) he PAID for the write to use the tech developed there(a stock exchange if i remember correctly) includeing the mouse and GUI


Apples first try however (and the only public GUI in existancee when windows was announced) was a massive failure!! (remember Lisa?)

Hmm.. The first mac came 1971, right? Windows 1.0 came about 1985, and didn´t look like a very nice GUI..
Mac was way before Windows...

Hardly.

OK, history lesson time:

1963-4 - Project MAC at MIT develops the first concept of windowing. Logo also developed at MIT under Papert. Englebart, at Scandia Labs (?), develops the first mouse.  

1965-67 - Engelbart adopts and develops windowing, combining it with early mice. Alan Kay works in Logo Lab. Nygaard designs Simula, the first language with OOP
like features.

1968 - Engelbart's Demostration at the Fall ACM Joint. Alan Kay, among others, picks up on the ideas presented there.

1970-72 - Intel's releases the first two generations of microprocessor, the 4004 and the 8008.

1971-81 - Xerox PARC is formed, and over the next ten years, develops the Alto workstation, the mechano-optical mouse, high-resolution bitmapped windowing graphics, Smalltalk 72, Ethernet, and the laser printer, among other things.

1973 - Intel releases the third generation microprocessor, the 8080.

1974 - In January, MITS announces the Altair, an 8080 based home computer kit (256 bytes memory, LED output, toggle switch input); due to backorders, kits take up to three months to ship.  and Gates and Allen Consulting, a firm run by two Harvard students specializing in implementing BASIC interpreters for minis, wins bid to write an Altair Basic.

1975 - Dozens of new computer companies form and offer kit systems. Most don't last to the end of the year. G&A changes name to MicroSoft. Motorla releases the 6800, the first in their line of 8-bit microprocessors.

1976 - MOSTEK releases the 6500 series microprocessors. Processor Tech releases the SOL. Apple I released.  Prerelease version of Altair BASIC first demonstrated at PC 76 trade show; copies quickly leak to the user's groups even before the official release ships. Gates' write infamous 'Open Letter to Hackers'. In response, several hobbyists write 'Tiny Basics', early examples of what would later be called 'open source' software. A magazine, [i]Dr. Doob's Journal[/i], is founded for the purpose of supporting the Tiny Basic systems and similar projects. First public demonstrations of Alto by Xerox. Digital Research releases CP/M for the Altair and other S-100 bus computers.

1977 - First ready-to-run home computers (Commodore PET, TRS-80, Apple II) come on the market. First West Coast Computer Faire (later COMDEX) held. Under Mike Markkula's guidance, Apple's product launch at the WCCF sets new standards for marketing, changing the focus of the company and the industry.

1978 - Zilog releases the Z80, an 8080 workaliek that runs considerably faster than the Intel chip. Intel releases first 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086. Early home video consoles appear.

1979 - First Apple II and TRS-80 floppy drives released, ending the era of cassette drives. Apple II+, with ROM support for disk drives, is released. Visicalc for the Apple II is released; demand for the new spreadsheet drives sales of Apple II systems through roof. Several people, including both Gates and Jobs, visit Xerox PARC. Long-range Lisa (a high-end Alto like system) and Macintosh (an inexpensive 'appliance' computer) projects begun. Apple /// project begun. Microsoft produces a Z80 card for the Apple II, allowing it to run CP/M software as well as Apple software. Commodore releases VIC-20; Atari release VCS (later called 2600) console system, which becomes an instant success.

1980 - TRS Color Computer released; becomes first widely used home computer to support multitasking and windowing, albeit sluggishly. IBM begins the PC project. Unwilling to commit extra manpower to the project for software development, IBM tries to negotiate deals with DR for CP/M, but discussions break down. While discussing a BASIC implementation for the new PC with MS, they ask for help in finding an alternate OS vendor; MS, who had recently bought out the failing Seattle Computer Products, offers to provide one based on the existing SCP-DOS, with the stipulation that they should be free to offer it for sale to other for other systems. MS (supposedly) also talks IBM designers into using the newer 8088, a version of the 8086 with an 8-bit bus, instead of the already-aging 8080. Motorola releaes the 68000, the first 32-bit chip (with a 16-bit bus) in widespread use. The Apple /// is released with great fanfare. Apple, Microsoft, DEC, each seek to license PARC technology for m Xerox. Intel releases 80186 (never widely used in PCs outside of Japan).

1981 - Apple holds IPO in January; stock valued at over $1 billion within a month. Apple /// sales falter due to poor design and faulty hardware; Apple II sales continue briskly, however. The IBM PC is completed and goes on the market towards end of year. Xerox closes PARC; Raskin and Togarelli go to Apple, Simonyi to Microsoft, and Kay to Atari. Metcalfe founds 3Com, oversees Ethernet standardization. Commodore releases the C-64, most widely sold model of computer in history.

1982 - Apple /// fails in market. Lisa product developed for release in following year. After internal politics forces Jobs off Lisa project; he responds by taking over the Macintosh project and turning it into a Lisa-like design. Intel releases 80286.

1983 - Lisa released; most customers balk at $10000 price tag and poor performance. MS releases Windows 1.0. IBM releases PC/XT. Compaq wins infringement suit by IBM, opening the way for the clone market.

1984 - Macintosh released with considerable fanfare. Lisa sales dwindle, and soon is take off market. Commodore buys out Lorraine Inc., and rechristens the system as Amiga. IBM Releases PC Jr., which flops. MS DOS 3.0 released.

1985 - Commodore releases Amiga 1000. IBM releases PC/AT. Original MS-DOS 4.0 released in limited numbers, but quickly recalled; next version released goes back to 3.2 version number. Windows 2.0 released.

1986 - Compaq beats IBM to the punch with Compaq/386. MS-DOS 3.3 released; it would remain the standard version for several years to come.

1987 - IBM releases PS/2 line. IBM and MS announce plans for OS/2. Windows/286 and Windows/386 released as stopgap measures while OS/2 is developed.

1988 - Compaq and other hardware developers rebel against MCA bus royalties; develop ISA/EISA standards as competing system.

1989 - MS drops out of OS/2 product. Releases MS-DOS 4.0, begins work on Windows 3.0.

Siorry if this rambles, but there's a lot to cover. This is from memory, so I may have a lot of it wrong; corrections are more than welcome.

Apparently the company Gates and Allen first founded was called Traf-o-Data, and was mostly involved in COBOL based statistical software, not interpreters. Also, Gates worked for TRW for a time as well.

Here is a link to an interview with Gates about the early days of MS. Make of it what you will.

http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/csr/c ... /gates.htm

Hey, thanks everyone... I didnt expect this forum to go on so long, lol, but the information doesnt hurt, Thanks "Schol-R-LEA" for the history insight, lol

      peace out...
          - Joe

That's strange that MS SELLS licenses to FAT when they also give them out for FREE. The license they gave me when I downloaded the FAT spec says:

"Provided that you comply with all terms and conditions of this Agreement and subject to limitations in Sections 1(c) - (f) below, Microsoft grants to you the following non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable, reciprocal limited covenant not to sue under its Necessary Claims solely to make, have made, use, import, and directly and indirectly, offer to sell, sell and otherwise distribute and dispose of portions of products which comply with the Specification in unmodified form."

I guess it's possible that some instances you might need FAT for don't fit into their "limitations in Sections 1(c) - (f)". I haven't studied them in enough detail to know that for sure. But I do know that they have no right to sue you for making a FAT driver for an OS (which some people suggested they could do) as long as you "comply with the Specification in unmodified form." But, of course, that means if your code has a minor bug which made your product vary ever so slightly from the specification, then they would TECHNICALLY have the right to sue you, if they wanted to. And, if they feel that Linux is a big enough threat to their NT/2000/XP proffessional line I wouldn't be surprised if they used something like that to sue. But they wouldn't go after the original developers. That wouldn't get them anything. They'd go after and try to shut down Red Hat, Mandrake, etc. As for Lindows, I don't know why they went after them. They're no threat to Windows (please try to think about it realistically if you're thinking of flaming me). It just makes people hate them more.