In late 1980, Digital Research, Inc., had the number one personal computer operating system, CP/M,
and none other than IBM was knocking down their door, eager to license it for their upcoming PC.
But by 1991, they were struggling to compete in the operating system space
and ended up selling the company in a last-ditch effort to do so.
What happened?
This is "LGR Tech Tales,"
where we'll be taking a look at noteworthy stories of technological inspiration,
failure and everything in between.
This episode covers the story of Digital Research and CP/M.
Gary Kildall wasn't always interested in computing.
His story in the industry began at the University of Washington in Seattle in the early '70s
where he was studying to become a mathematics teacher.
After earning his degree, he ended up teaching at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California,
which just so happened to be within earshot of Silicon Valley.
It was here that he learned about the first commercially available microprocessor,
the Intel 4004.
Being a mathematician, he became interested in programming, in order to learn more about it,
and even started consulting for Intel and writing software for their new systems.
After earning a doctorate in computer science,
in 1973, he developed operating software for the Intel Intellec 8
called "Programming Language for Microcomputers", or "PL/M,"
alongside its "Control Program Monitor," or "CP/M,"
to operate the floppy drive.
Intel liked PL/M, but didn't see much of a use for CP/M.
Gary saw otherwise.
So he and his wife Dorothy started Intergalactic Digital Research
in 1974 at their home in Pacific Grove, California,
later renamed to Digital Research, Inc., or DRI.
Gary developed CP/M into a fully-fledged operating system
changing the acronym to stand for "Control Program for Microcomputers" in the process.
It was made up of three components:
the BIOS, the Basic Disk Operating System, and the Command Console.
Each of these work together to let multiple programs work with different hardware in a standardized way
which was crucial to provide a complete operating environment for the myriad personal computers coming to market.
Machines from MITS, IMSAI, North Star, Osborne,
Kaypro, Exidy, Xerox, and hundreds of others all relied on CP/M to operate.
It was even used in engineering data analysis hardware
in roadway traffic counters for a company called Traf-O-Data.
And every time a new personal computer came out,
it was a good bet that it would support CP/M.
Well, until this company called "IBM" came along
and announced they were venturing out of the mainframe and business machine market
and entering the personal computer market.
Naturally, CP/M was the obvious choice for their computers,
since it was proven, well-documented, and was the market leader by far.
But remember that traffic counting company, Traf-O-Data?
They'd since moved on to making CP/M add-on cards for various computers
and had renamed themselves
to Microsoft.
There was some confusion about their products
and IBM first approached Microsoft about licensing a new version of CP/M.
So Microsoft sent them onward to Digital Research, but initial negotiations didn't go well.
When IBM dropped by, Gary wasn't in. Only his wife.
And she, along with DRI's lawyers, weren't keen on signing the non-disclosure agreements from IBM.
When they did meet, Kildall wanted to sell CP/M on a royalty basis and not make any changes to the OS,
but IBM wanted to license it outright and rename CP/M to "PC DOS."
Further meetings were required to hash this out,
but the day that IBM wanted to meet, it was Dorothy Kildall's birthday
and they already had plans to go flying together, so Gary postponed the meeting.
IBM started getting impatient with Digital Research and moved on to seek out other companies to work with.
One of these was Microsoft, who still didn't even have an OS compatible with the IBM PC.
However, Bill Gates and crew did know a guy
who had programmed what was more or less an 8088 CP/M clone.
So, they bought it outright
and renamed it to "Microsoft Disk Operating System,"
or MS-DOS.
Suddenly, they had a working OS
and were ready to make a deal
which was a step beyond anyone else.
Once DRI got word of this, they threatened to sue Microsoft and IBM
but backed down after further negotiations.
Eventually, a contract was drawn up that licensed MS-DOS, UCSD p-System
and the upcoming CP/M-86 for the IBM PC.
However, due to a clause in the contract that stated IBM didn't have to bundle all of them,
they simply supported them as options.
IBM ended up chosing the OS from Microsoft as the default for the machine,
renaming it "PC DOS" just like they were going to do with CP/M-86.
As such, DRI was left out in the cold,
receiving few benefits from this IBM deal.
Now, this didn't immediately tank the company or anything,
and they were still quite successful,
as they were still selling CP/M, and eventually developed things like GEM,
a graphical operating environment that debuted ahead of Windows.
But as the IBM PC gained popularity,
the desirability of CP/M-based products waned.
And it wasn't just IBM, since countless companies were cloning the PC,
and each of them bought their own license for Microsoft's DOS to maximize compatibility.
Digital Research tried all sorts of things to regain the market that had slipped through their fingers,
from the aforementioned CP/M-86 and GEM
to Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, DOS Plus and DR-DOS.
But they simply could not compete in the long run
and in 1991 they sold out to Novell
in one final attempt to dismantle the Microsoft kingdom.
It didn't work.
DR-DOS became Novell DOS 7,
Novell DOS became Caldera Open DOS,
and that's about all that remains of the Digital Research legacy.
Gary Kildall could have been Bill Gates.
He was a contract away from making personal computer history,
even more than he already did,
and who knows how it would have affected his life.
Sadly, what transpired instead was awful.
He was understandably bitter over the whole IBM thing,
withdrew from the limelight,
and eventually ceased making appearances on shows
like "The Computer Chronicles," which he co-hosted for a number of years.
He saw the end of his company, underwent a divorce, became an alcoholic,
and eventually suffered head injuries from an altercation in a biker bar.
He died from his wounds on July 11, 1994,
at 52 years old.
And thus ends the story of Digital Research and CP/M.
What might have been is a crazy thing to imagine,
but alas, all we can do is imagine
and celebrate what they did accomplish
and make sure that their stories are not forgotten.
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