OT CGW Article

Ack · #1 July 27th, 2003, 08:09 PM

I was just looking at the August 2003 Computer Gaming World mag and MM & Shrapnel got a nice little mention for Space Empires: Starfury. Unfortunately it was under the title of "The best games you've never seen" (pg 54). But hey it was a positive mention and any publicity of this type is good for all of the SE games.

A quote from the Mag that I found funny as hell...

"Does Microsoft Even Make PC Games Anymore?" (pg 66).

"That depends on whether you consider Microsoft Train Simulator 2.0 to be an actual game or an interactive scrensaver."

Slynky · #2 July 27th, 2003, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ack:
A quote from the Mag that I found funny as hell...

"Does Microsoft Even Make PC Games Anymore?" (pg 66).

"That depends on whether you consider Microsoft Train Simulator 2.0 to be an actual game or an interactive scrensaver."

Actually, if you think about it, a lot of software from MS was just a buyout of another product/company. I'm sure PowerPoint fits this Category and perhaps Excel and Word (though I don't care enough to do some research). Even then, stuff with their name on it, I believe, was contract work or some sort of subsidiary of some kind.

Ruatha · #3 July 27th, 2003, 08:45 PM

Didn't they but DOS from another programmer/company in the beginning, and then reprogram it, not starting from scratch though?
But windows 1.0 was their original product wasn't it? The code I mean, if it was their ideas is up for discussion, let's not get into that!

[ July 27, 2003, 19:46: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

Slynky · #4 July 27th, 2003, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ruatha:
Didn't they but DOS from another programmer/company in the beginning, and then reprogram it, not starting from scratch though?
But windows 1.0 was their original product wasn't it? The code I mean, if it was their ideas is up for discussion, let's not get into that!

Actually, since I'm so OLD, I remember the story. IBM decided to join the "Apple II" fun by making their own personal computer. They hired a small company practically working out of a garage, Microsoft, to write their OS. Through a lack of foresight or flimsy contracting (or perhaps even allowed), Microsoft was allowed to expand on the OS they wrote for IBM and the rest, as they say, is history.

Baron Munchausen · #5 July 27th, 2003, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ruatha:
Didn't they but DOS from another programmer/company in the beginning, and then reprogram it, not starting from scratch though?
But windows 1.0 was their original product wasn't it? The code I mean, if it was their ideas is up for discussion, let's not get into that!

Yes. Microsoft had produced some programs before IBM came to them, but not an OS. Only some BASIC interpreters. They agreed to supply IBM with an alternative OS to the CP/M they expected to field as their main choice. But the guy that owned CP/M wouldn't deal with IBM for some reason. He blew them off and MS got to be the main OS supplier for the PC. The way they got their OS ready in time to meet IBM's deadlne was to buy out some guy who'd already programmed an OS for the 8086 that he called 'QDOS' for 'Quick and Dirty OS'...

As I recall, MS stopped paying him royalties after Version 3.1 or 3.3 or something like that because they had completely re-coded it. But he still made quite a bit of money for his 'Quick and Dirty' programming way back in the late 1970s...

[ July 28, 2003, 01:29: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Arkcon · #6 July 27th, 2003, 09:19 PM

As I recall, they licenced MS-DOS to IBM for use in their PC hardware for like, $USD 1 -- provided IBM included Microsoft interpreted BASIC. Orgininal IBM PC's boot the interpreter if they can't find the MSDOS.

IBM got to keep that sweet deal even up to the PS/2 -- the low end 286 models have MS interpreted BASIC(with cassette commands

) in their roms.

It's a pretty widely know rumor that Bill Gates hates IBM because of their original deal.