The Computer Chronicles - Gary Kildall Special (1995)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2015
- Hello everyone! Thanks for watching and sharing all these great episodes of The Computer Chronicles. I'm glad most of you like the channel. Special thanks to Steven Whiting who informed me this episode was missing (I thought I had it uploaded but couldn't find it on my channel).
Special thanks to archive.org for hosting these episodes. Downloads of all these episodes and more can be found at: archive.org/details/computerch...
It took me a full minute to realize the joke that Gary made about his staff "getting a raise" when the building was physically raised to fit the machine in it... 🤣🤣
Haha, thanks!
So criminal how few people know about Gary Killdall
Underrated comment
yeah specially bill gates not giving Gary any credit for his part inspiring him to become the guy he became with Microsoft
@@raven4k998 bill gates betrayed paul allen too. and now that psychopath wants to jab us with gene therapy shots multiple times (he has shares in big pharma) and he is buying up all the agricultural land to sell us his synthetic meat
@@Amine-gz7gqyou see you see this is all Bill Gates fault for teaching them that it's ok to fuck people over in the name of money🤣
@@raven4k998 Bill Gates was one of the pioneers himself in microcomputer languages.
It's such a shame that Gary is remembered more for what he didn't do than all the things that he did. 😢
Gary Kildall was an amazing man. Not only was he a genius, but he sure appears super friendly as well. I wish I had known him in real life! Thank you for the tribute back in 1995. That was very kind of you to dedicate a show to him.
My personal career in IT started when CP/M was still around. Gary Kildall would be at the age of 79 now. And I think he would have enjoyed what is possible nowadays. Thank you for preserving this!
"Don't think for a minute that [Bill] Gates made it 'big time' because of his technical savvy. " ~Gary Kildall, Computer Connections
After watching the documentary "Inside Bill's brain" -- one can't come away thinking Bill Gates is anything BUT savvy...technically and otherwise.
He just happened to be more savvy at business and far more ruthless than Gary Kildall. Perhaps that makes him a worse person; or maybe not. We don't know what Gary would have done, had he inherited the riches of the world. All we know is that Bill has done a world of good with his wealth.
@@AdamsOlympiaget off bills cock, he ain’t good 😭 bro is evil
Gates did write BASIC.
Gary screwed himself. Nothing to do with Gates@@AdamsOlympia
@@AdamsOlympia like buy up more American farmland that actual American farmers? or by personally funding the WHO, the org nobody needs?
I'm watching this on 7/11/2023, exactly 29 years to the day after his death. Thank you for all you've done for us, Dr. Kildall!!
Can't believe it's already thirty years. I still can remember the news like it was yesterday.
I always include Gary's contribution and his life whenever I would discuss the history of computer to my computer literacy students. My teachers never mentioned him to us nor do the computer books we used but now the new generation needs to know him and his works. The same goes with people before him that my teachers also failed to mention.
At best he's now a footnote in the history of operating systems. Might seem harsh, but 'tis the truth. Being the "First" with an operating system is actually not as important as one might think, since the need for operating systems was a well known concept at the time - an idea that others were also working on developing.
@@looneyburgmusic that's really an oversimplification and revisionist history. The operating system that Microsoft ultimately licensed to IBM was virtually identical to Gary Kildall 's CP/M OS.
It's not like Microsoft came along later and made a better OS. It was, for all practical terms, theft. Even the thief, Tim Paterson, sued Microsoft in a court of law for failing to disclose they were in negotiations with IBM.
A jury awarded Paterson $1 million. Kildall got nothing but a slap in the face. 💁🏻♂️💰🖥️
@@looneyburgmusic What a strange way of thinking. That's like downplaying the first person to find a widespread cure for cancer, just because it's well known that we need to cure cancer. The real "footnotes" are the people who worked toward the same goal and never delivered anything, now that's definitely a harsh truth.
@@jimtekkit "What a strange way of thinking." - You mean going with the truth?
Gary and his wife literally cut their own throats, as far as their long-term business prospects, because it seems neither understood the "new" personal computer OS market - not only how quickly things would be moving, but also just how large and cutthroat it would become. And they were doomed to fail because of that.
Back then, "Winning" the OS race involved far more than crossing the finish line first, and as history has shown, that was something that Gary and Digital Reseach just didn't understand.
Oh, one last thing - CP/M itself really wasn't as "original" or groundbreaking as many like to think, (thanks to the "myth") - was it "first"? Sure. But at the same time, CP/M was simply the next logical step in operating system development, which was heavily influenced by the software which ran the previous generation of mini-computers - Every OS in development at the time was going the same direction, because there really was no other road to take.
@@looneyburgmusic You completely missed the point of his work. He wasn't the first, who created an operating system, he was the first who separated the operating system in a machine dependent and machine independent part.
The first was called Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and the second Basic Disk Operating System (BDOS). Only the BIOS part had to be modified if you ported it to another CPU architecture.
This was practically an hardware abstraction layer which made it possible that you could run a userspace program written for CP/M on any machine by just recompiling the source code of the userpace program. All the system functions which were called by the userspace application behaved the same way.
Before CP/M this wasn't the case. If you moved your userspace program to another CPU architecture recompiling was not enough, you also had to adapt the system functions your userspace program called, which means, you had to modify your source code of your userspace program.
What an amazing guy. He died far too young.
yeah he did die way way to to young
Gary Killdall was an enthusiast and also a great idealist, which isn't always a very healthy combination. He had, as I understand, established very high etchical standards for himself, but he didn't get the idea, that others may not follow such standards for themselves...
He wasn't an enthusiast. He was a professional programmer.
It’s a sin that a man with such contributions to technology isn’t really recognized for said contributions…
The people who really make the contributions rarely get their accolades.
I had never heard of Gary Kildall before finding this TH-cam channel. I'm so glad I did, because he's one of the unsung heroes of computer science. Cool guy. I'm sorry he never got the recognition he deserves.
I wonder what Gary would think of the tech we have today. Also what would he see that we are missing. Greatly missed you are Gary Kildall.
Imagine that he could have made an impact with the modern world of computing. Perhaps would have created the OS that we use on modern devices. Especially true as Microsoft fell victim to its own success with its horrible Windows CE based platform that allowed Android to fry it. Gary could have been a player in the market too. A sad ending that he took his own life in a way.
If I can use myself as an example, which I don't share Gary's technical understanding of computing, but I think all of us share the same love of technology. I am amazed at where we are now. All the little things they were hinting at back then are fully fledged and available in my pocket on my smartphone. We have so many greats to thank for taking the baby steps they did. Life is very different now because of it.
He expected that one day, computers would be small enough to lose along with your keys. With the number of times I've lost my smartphone, he's not wrong there.
@George Wannabee Around 200 dollar in 1990 for a none-optimizing none-commercial usage C compiler and about > 1000 dollar for a optimizing compiler that could be used for commercial products. Today, the latter is completely free, including debugger, assembler, IDE and much more.
I think in some aspects he'd love the tech we have now. But in other aspects, the monopolies, the intrusion of the individual's privacy, etc. he wouldn't have been too kindly of.
I wish GARY was still here to see our technological advancement! Rest in peace! 😟
so do I so do I
Every phone, laptop and pc on sale today has BIOS in it, so Gary's work and legacy lives on in the very device you are reading this youtube comment from.❤
Has something like a bios, but not exactly what he used the term to mean, and very different to the PC's historical bios.
What a great guy. Such a tragic loss.
I have a lot more appreciation for Gary Kidall even this long after. I had just graduated High school in 1994 and had no idea what a remarkable fellow this guy was.
I could have swore I watched this episode on this very channel last year, I must have been wrong. We could use more Kildall's in the world.
Wow...I had completely forgotten that the gent often "co-piloting" with Stewart Chiefet in "Computer Chronicles" was behind CP/M.
The only video I've ever seen on YT with 0 dislikes; particularly impressive at 5+ years old.
Some loser disliked it ..
@@nyancat7053 Bill Gates?
@@lucius1976 Bill Gates and his alt account, lol
They read this and spited you.
Why do you have to say this !!
Now some rat disliked it
Rip Gary poor guy died a few days after he got hit in the head in a bar what a way to go to such intelligent man
Knowing what we know today of how Microsoft operated back in the 80s and 90s, there is no way anyone could have given 9/10 in ethics to Bill Gates.
Bullshit. Gates is not some Evil Criminal Mastermind, like the MS-Haters like to say he is. Gates was, and is, a businessman, and like every other businessman who has ever lived he looked for every single competitive advantage he could get. This is how "business" works. And every single one of the "heroes" of the MS-Hater Cult, (like Steve Jobs for examples), did the exact same thing, only difference being Gates was better at playing that game than all the rest put together.
@@looneyburgmusic unfortunately that is either a very cynical view of capitalism on your part, or you forgot some of the reasons why the United States investigated Microsoft. Microsoft purposefully generated errors for the sole purpose of having people doubt competitor operating systems. That basically killed Digital Research which was later absorbed by Novell. The following is a quote from internal MS emails following that: Microsoft Co-President Jim Allchin stated in a memo, "If you're going to kill someone there isn't much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger."
That is not ethical.
That ethics rating needs a minus sign in front of it.
@@looneyburgmusic Criminally insane. Lock him up!!!.
@@looneyburgmusic And you forget! If MS couldn't buy a program, it stole it and beat them in court because they had all the money for all the lawyers and MS only got all the money, because IBM became the defacto system design and MS-DOS was the only OS for all those clones! It's wasn't great business acumen, it was luck being. AND you can't say it was Gates' great skill and timing and not luck... Remember IBM approached Microsoft! AND there was a point when MS had an illegal monopoly and our government didn't know enough about the new industry to realize it before it was too late to do anything about it.
What a very special man.
An amazing man. RIP
Thank you Gary, your legacy is one of the greatest.
Damn..knowing how optimistic and innovative he was, I'm pretty sure we would be enjoying way more advanced technologies now if he had not passed the baton to Microsoft to market its inferior product. Argh. R.I.P sir!
If you know anything about the origins of personal computers, you know Gary Kildall. Nothing but respect for the guy.
My first PC was shipped with DR-DOS 3.4x. This means that i used Gary Kildall's OS before Bill Gates's OS.
Really miss Him , I collect Digital Research Computers
Digital Research Computers (DRC) and Gary's Digital Research Inc. (DRI) were completely unrelated to each other though...
@@GeckonCZ DRI :) QC
6:25 I feel there was a missed opportunity there. As a minicomputer guy at the time (DEC PDP-11, then VAX), the one revolutionary new thing that the micros brought to the table was being able to access the video memory directly from the CPU. This mean instant full-screen updates, allowing a level of interactivity beyond anything a bigger and more powerful mini could manage by accessing text terminals through anemic serial lines.
But there was no hardware-independent way of accessing the video RAM. And when the display hardware became capable of graphics, this hardware dependence grew even worse. Imagine if CP/M had added another layer above the BDOS-call it the “BVOS”, the “Basic Video Output System”-to abstract away the details of the display hardware, allowing full-screen and even graphical apps to be portable across different machines, they could have stolen a big march on the Apple Macintosh.
CP/M did in fact have a graphics subsystem called GSX, which was a foundation of sorts for the later GEM environment.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M#Graphics
CP/M Boostrapped modern computing
I didn't know much about you until watching this, Rest in peace Gary.
My passion for computers ignited during my early years. I distinctly recall creating my first computer keyboard from a wooden slab while engrossed in the show Computer Chronicles. It marked the inception of my genuine devotion.
Gary Kildal was really the friend one would enjoy to spend time with! And of course his name MUST be remembered as one of the successful pioneers of pc. At the end of the day, business is made of sharks and survival, so Gates and IBM have been businessmen and then Bill won..but the quality of a person is far beyond just business. Thanks Gary and thanks to Mr. Cheifet. Real gentlemen.
If only Computer Chronicles had aired in my country and my first IT “hero” could’ve been Gary instead of Gates. Not to mention how amazing it would’ve been to learn about computing that much earlier in life.
4:13 "Intergalactic Digital Research" Those were the days!
God bless Gary Kildall - Rest in peace & he was a genius.
Never heard of him so thanks for this excellent depiction of a great man
Hearing this every time makes me sad. Didn’t personally knew Gary, but got to know him a little through this program Computer Chronicles.
Rest In Peace, Gary. May your memory stick with all those who knew you best.
I kind of always saw Gary's passing as the end of an era. After he was gone, the computer world quickly exploded. It stopped being so much of a "frontier" for us, but rather an intrusive cash cow. Most of the little guys in this were run out by the Microsucks and Apples.
I used to love Computer Chronicles. I still enjoy watching the old episodes. Everything was more exciting back then because there were all kinds of hardware and software choices. That variety died in the early 90's when Commodore and Atari basically imploded. After that, It was pretty boring for more than a decade with pretty much just Windows and Mac available to consumers. It was obvious that hardware and software innovation was really slowing down. I think things have improved in the last few years with more accessible versions of Linux (although that same variety hurts adoption), Android, iOS, and even Blackberry which is still hanging on (albeit barely). Even Windows has finally become more versatile with versions for desktops, tablets, and phones. The thing that is most surprising to me now that I would have never guessed a decade ago is that Macs are probably the most boring hardware/software combos available. The metaphor of the desktop needs to be tossed in the dumpster. It is clearly broken and it is way past time for something new.
+GamingDude888 Millions of people stopped purchasing desktop computers in the past few years for a reason. They just don't need the extra functionality that a PC provides. The Apple ipad pro is as fast as many desktop computers. iOS isn't as versatile as a desktop OS yet, but there's no reason that can't change in the future. With Windows 10, Microsoft is already evolving to one universal operating system for desktops, tablets, phones and internet connected devices. Microsoft calls this continuum. With Thunderbolt 3, external graphics cards can easily become mainstream and you will be able to plug and unplug desktop graphics cards on demand. Also, more and more content is going to be streamed via servers (locally, like Steam casting locally or over the internet services like Netflix, Playstation Now, Spotify and every other internet streaming service), so big, power hungry hardware like graphics cards won't be as important in the future as they are now. This means eventually there won't be much functionality difference between your phone, tablet and desktop. You will be able to listen, play, watch or create whatever you want on any form factor device using whatever mode of input you prefer (keyboard/mouse, touch, gestures, voice). We aren't quite there yet, but we will be in a few more years. It doesn't matter if you whine about it and say it isn't true. Intel, Microsoft, Sony Dell, Apple, AMD, Nvidia and even Canonical are evolving and you would have to have your head in the sand to not notice.
+GamingDude888 I never said PCs are dead. The desktop concept (desktop+ cluttered file folders and such) is an outdated metaphor (going back over 30 years) and that needs to die. The iPad pro IS faster than many PCs currently in use. Very few people (as a % of total hardware) own high end PCs. Most people have low end PCs which were purchased several years old (even Valve acknowledges this). Just because you don't like Apple it doesn't make that statement not true. Benchmarks and sales figures don't lie. You can troll in your mom's basement and complain about facts all day. No one really cares.
+GamingDude888 The benchmarks for these processors are available on numerous reputable websites. I never said that there wasn't a gap between mobile and desktop, but that gap isn't that big of a deal to the majority of users who are mostly playing facebook games and shopping online. There are 7 billion+ people in this world, and I know it may come as a shock, but most of them aren't like you at all. A huge chunk of the world doesn't even have a reliable source of energy so in places like India and China, mobile devices are wildly popular.
And keep in mind, most people have an older PC (sandy bridge or haswell), not a new one with a skylake i5 and that's where devices like the ipad pro make more sense. When people decide to replace a PC, they are often turning to tablets because they are smaller, cheaper and easier to use than desktops.
***** Head on over to garter to see the published research. In 2012 desktop sales were flat. In 2013 sales dropped over 10% and they fell again in 2014. Still waiting on the numbers for 2015 but I'm sure they won't be good. And there are more people living now than there were in 2012 which means the actual drop in sales is really higher than the simple number. Mobile devices are absolutely becoming the bulk of all computing sales. This is completely indisputable.
+GamingDude888 I never said desktops are dead. Your reading comprehension is terrible. The desktop metaphor needs to die (desktop, file folders). It is 30+ years old after all. That doesn't mean it won't linger around for many more years. it is pretty doubtful that people will still be using a desktop like operating system 50 or 100 years from now. Even 5 years from now the number is likely to drop significantly.
Thank you so much for putting these shows up. I watched it when I was a kid and it made me the proud geek I am today. :)
Microsoft is a lazy overfed wolf in a salesmans outfit, Gary was too good for this world. An extremely rare combination of brilliance, free spirit, and very congenial. Every show I've seen him on he is the first to smile and inject a sense of wonder.
Humanity must've done something wrong in a previous life to have the bloated and sluggish MicroOaf here.
To be fair, all the issues that caused DRI's demise source back to DRI itself. I mean sure you can point a finger at microsoft, but ultimately they were simply exploiting DRI's own prior failure. The ultimate failure that caused DRI's downfall was their failure to ship a 8086 compatible version of CP/M in a timely manner while the hardware was becomming widely available. It was that issue that caused SCP's engineer Tim Patterson to create a CP/M compatible reverse engineered clone QDOS, which became 86-DOS and was bought by Microsoft on the cheap to license to IBM.... because the 8086 was hitting the market and compaines were already working with the hardware but DRI was failing to deliver costing those companies money.
I mean, it's inevitable, when you're promising a product, but failing to deliver it, and your prior reputation had companies banking on hardware that relies on your product and you don't deliver.... they are going to start searching out alternatives.
And once that alternative is there, it becomes a competitor, and you no longer have that firm place at the table.
I disagree. Microsoft wasn't lazy.
They found a way to switch a 80286 from protected mode back to real mode and used this for Windows 3.0.
This was Microsoft's biggest move besides MS Office and making Windows ready for games.
That tick of Windows 3.0 laid the groundwork for Windows NT.
Were it not for the success of Windows 3.0 due to this ingenious move, OS/2 might have won the race.
@@OpenGL4ever 386, not 286. The 286 was a stupid chip that only IBM, with its bloated OS/2 offering, cared about.
@@lawrencedoliveiro9104No, 286 is correct. The 386 could easily switch between protected mode and real mode. The 286 couldn't, it wasn't designed for that, but they found a solution and that was very important for the success of Windows 3.0
@@OpenGL4ever That success of Windows 3.0 actually started with its predecessor, Windows 2.1 a.k.a “Windows 386”. The name should give you a clue.
6:54 RIGHT! Very well put! Micros were not just smaller linear descendants of Minis. The distinction, and it continued throughout the 80s, was that minis had MMU and were therefore capable of running Unix (among other things). Micros started from the ground up from hobbyists and independent engineers. It was very much a part of DIY culture. Like "lets see if I can make something almost as good as an expensive PDP using these budget parts". Woz talked about this also.
why isn't there no modern computer chronicles today?
This is the second time for me watching this "documentary edition" of the Computer Chronicles. It took me long time, but after reading everything I could find, I feel I can honestly surmise what really happened.
Bill Gates and Co. had a collection of software that IBM had already agreed to be "featured products" on the IBM PC. "Basic" is just one of these applications, and it was tied directly to that $40 IBM DOS package.
Microsoft, therefore, had distinctly more leverage with IBM than Gary Killdall's Digital Research. DRI's CP/M operating system along with its precursor PL/M, were basically the only software they produced that anyone had ever heard of at the time (and they were stand-alone products).
IBM compensated Microsoft even less for QDOS than the amount they offered Kildall for CP/M, but with one monumental concession: Microsoft would be allowed to sell their own version of QDOS called MS-DOS (Microsoft DOS), for PCs other than those manufactured by IBM.
IBM never envisioned how many manufacturers (i.e. Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, etc.) would jump at the chance to compete with them, knowing that this "MS-DOS" version existed. Bill Gates ultimately used DRI for their operating system and IBM to mass market it for them.
The ironic part is Microsoft had virtually NOTHING to do with QDOS, which Bill Gates had contracted Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products to do by reverse engineering CP/M. 💾
It’s worth noting that Microsoft had SCP create that clone because DRI had up to that point not yet shipped a release for the Intel 8086 processors (they actually refused out right) and we’re going to miss the hardware shipping date.
Microsoft had “their” OS ready before DRI, for a cheaper than DRI wanted, and the rest is history.
If it weren't for Gary Kildall there might not have been the various operating systems for personal computer systems. His death in 1994 was devastating for his family and friends as much as a shocker for the personal computer industry. I clearly remember that Gary was a natural co-host with Stewart as host on The Computer Chronicles. 😥
Gates vs. Kildall is like saying Quantity vs. Quality.
And we can see that quantity has a quality all its own
WILL SEE YOU IN JANUARY 2024 FOR ANOTHER EDITION OF THE COMPUTER CHRONICLES.
Good program. Undoubtedly, the world needs business visionaries, but more importantly, many more technology visionaries, like Mr Kildall.
Pacific Grove, Ca?! I HAD NO IDEA!! I grew up there in the '90s!
I dream of the day this Show returns.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:02 *🎥 Gary Kildall's Legacy in Personal Computing*
- Chronicles the birth of the Computer Chronicles back in 1983 with Gary Kildall as co-host.
- Historical significance of Gary Kildall in the development of personal computing.
- Recognition and commemoration of his contributions in personal computing.
01:39 *🏠 The Birthplace of CPM*
- Description of the residential spot in Pacific Grove, California, where the first modern operating system for microcomputers was born.
- Development story of CPM (Control Program for Microcomputers) pioneered by Gary Kildall.
- The early development stages of microcomputing and Gary's interest in advancing the technology.
04:22 *📈 Establishment and Expansion of Digital Research Incorporated (DRI)*
- Establishment of DRI by Gary and his wife Dorothy in 1976.
- The increasing popularity and significance of DRI and CPM in advancing the microcomputing industry.
- Remarkable success of DRI and its contributions towards the development and standardization of the microcomputer industry.
07:35 *📺 Gary's Role as a Television Host*
- Gary's engagement with the Computer Chronicles as co-host and technological review expert.
- Gary's early demonstrations of advanced technologies and products that were ahead of the competition, including concurrent DOS and the first graphical user interfaces.
- Gary's competitive spirit and pride in being a leader in microcomputer innovation.
10:30 * 💼 Gary's Business Approach and Ethical Standards*
- Reflection on Gary’s straightforward and cooperative approach towards business activities.
- Gary's influence on the microcomputer industry and the competitive aspects that arose due to his high ethical standards.
- Discussion on the ethics of business practices, with comparisons drawn between Gary and other major competitors, such as Bill Gates.
13:27 *🎉 Gary's Love for Life and Joy of Creation*
- Description of Gary's enthusiastic and innovative personality, his love for life and enjoyment of racing sports cars and flying airplanes.
- Acknowledgement of Gary's various interests beyond his professional life and his excitement for creating new things.
- References to memorable experiences with Gary and the distinct impression he made on those who knew him.
16:50 *💽 The Battle Between CPM and MS-DOS*
- Examination of the competitive relationship between CPM and MS-DOS, and the story behind IBM’s association with Bill Gates.
- Dispelling of myths around the reasons for the decline of CPM and the rise of MS-DOS, with reference to differing business perspectives, competition and market dynamics.
- Recognition of the impact of IBM's decision on the success of Microsoft and the subsequent challenges IBM faced.
20:39 *🤔 Reflection on Gary's Career and Achievements*
- Reflection on Gary's professional and personal development in the wake of losing the IBM contract.
- Discussion on Gary's frustration with frequent comparisons and underestimation of his contributions to the industry.
- Commendation of Gary's visionary work and his lack of regret over missed opportunities.
21:58 *💼 Competing with Microsoft*
- Recollection of the competitive relationship between DRI and Microsoft, often depicted as a personal battle between Kildall and Gates.
- Reflections on Gary's perspective of this competition and the camaraderie that existed in the industry's early days.
- Bill Gates' disputing statement about the size and potential of the market, implying that it was only capable of supporting one major company.
23:19 *🕯️ Gary Kildall's Life and Legacy*
- Overview of Gary's major accomplishments and his relentless drive to innovate.
- Emphasis on the importance of recognizing his contributions to the PC industry.
- Acknowledgment of how the elusive nature of 'the big win' influenced the latter part of his life.
26:04 *🌟 Remembering Gary Kildall*
- Reflection on Gary's untimely death in 1994 which served as a reminder of the fleeting nature of life and genius.
- A tribute to Gary’s significant influence on the way the computer industry developed during the 70s.
- Description of his personality and social interactions,, stressing that there's much more to remember about him beyond the IBM incident.
Made with HARPA AI
O no! I am beyond sorry that Gary Kildall died. I began to watch The Computer Chronicles since I began to use TH-cam, and as a keyboard specialist with keyboarding skills and a knack for using a microcomputer, Gary Kildall was the spirit of The Computer Chronicles. In fact, I relish seeing people use microcomputers and [laser] printers. I hope that The Computer Chronicles will not die.
The sad truth is, at a certain size of business, one has to get way more competitive and ruthless. Kildall could have become like that, but it's good he didn't because it would've ruined what was so lovable about him
Nice of them to make special about Gary
This is important. Thank you for hosting this.
An edited version of this episode aired as the final episode in 2002.
It is just so difficult to be everything. Inventor, designer, creator, photographer, sales, public relations, project analyst/coordinator, venture capitalist, legal advisor.
Gary Kildall is most definitely the kind of person with whom it's fun to work - cares about the people - cares about the end result - and cares about the people who will use what's produced. Guess it's about what lets one sleep at night … Gary Kildall worked in one frame of ethics, and Bill Gates worked in another. I prefer Kildall's, but give Gates his due. Collaborate ethics versus Bottom-line influence business ethics, I guess.
7:00 It did draw some foundation from the minicomputer industry, though, particularly DEC machines. Natural, since CP/M was originally cross-developed on DEC machines.
I flew into the Nut Tree for lunch before. Maybe that is where he went.
GOODBYE GARY KILDALL WILL MISS YOU TOO.🪦
It’s sad that big business greediness always gets in the way of technology evolution, image a ton of small businesses giving rise to millions of creative people, who wants to best for all humans, but in stead we are stuck with big greedy brands like Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, who tries to ruin it for everyone else, just to become the number one richest company out there.
I disagree. Capitalism is following the way of the most efficient. If something costs more it might be better, but it is not efficient. It's similar in the world of physics where systems tend to choose for the most efficient state.
If you didn't do it that way, you might have a great system (like Apple's Lisa cough, cough), but that would have required considerable system resources back then, for example, which only a few could afford. The others, who then cannot afford it, would have gotten nothing.
Capitalism is efficient when there is a level playing field without vendor lock-in. Unfortunately, the history of the computer history is full of instances of vendor lock-in, which has reduced the efficiency of market competition.
On the bright side, most of these cases do go away eventually, so they mostly slow down innovation rather then prevent it altogether.
I remember with fondness programming in Digital Research PL1-80 language on CP/M on Intel 8080 microcomputers in the early eighties. PL/1-80 was a subset of IBM MVS mainframe PL/1 with less features but good enough - but no control storage☹️ which I missed badly. I also used Digital Research Pascal MT+ which was killed by Turbo Pascal because it was less than half the price of Pascal MT+(IBM was not responsible for this). R.I.P. Mr Kildall and Digital Research.
A fitting final upload.
Oh wow Ivan hoffmans website is still up, doesn't look like it's changed since 95'. RIP Gary Killdall, the true father of the PC
Yes. Still up in 2020. Looks even older today.
@@m77dfk Taken down now it seems :/
Thank you!!
R.I.P
I wish if the world knows more about you.
AmigaDOS has pre-emptive multitasking years before concurrent DOS, with a GUI.
Wow. In short the cuningness of a man prevailed over the genius of another. The collaborativeness nature of scientists is their major weakness and they cannot compete with devious businessmen.
I think anyone who has an interest in the PC revolution is now fully aware of Gary's contribution and ironically it's probably the "flying" story that introduces them to him and leads them to find out more
And as I understand it, the flying story was put out and spread by Bill Gates. Which as the episode says, is not an accurate description of what happened. I have great respect for him not only for the advances he made, but also for being capable of standing up to the IBM giants. Nobody is obligated to sign a non disclosure agreement. When you sign it, you are legally bound not to tell anyone what was said, even if you firmly believe that information should be in the public domain.
@@challengeman101 the story was spread out by IBM representatives.
Damn no tunes on rondiamond site now
You listen to Gary while he is talking and you can hear a creativo and humble man, if only we could get a couple of CEO's bring 50% as human as Gary sounds the computer industry would be so so so much better
Never forget Gary:
www.buzzsprout.com/931324/3723266-gary-kildall-tech-history-that-deserves-to-be-remembered
A unique genius.
Ironically, Kildall was not a eugenicist
Such a sad loss. Hope the investigation into his death was done to a high standard.
Omg! that's intro! flashbacks
3:20 Near as I can tell, Kildall’s PL/M compiler was always a cross-compiler: it never ran native on any 8-bit microprocessor. To use it, you had to have access to a big (and expensive) DEC PDP-10 machine.
I think this ran the TOPS-10 OS, which was a pretty typical DEC OS. A filespec consisted of a device name, a directory part, a name part, an extension and a version number. Clearly this was the inspiration for CP/M filespec syntax: the device name (which could be multiple characters) was simplified down to a single character, the directory part and version number were omitted, the name limited to 8 characters, and the extension to 3.
And aspects of that syntax were carried over to MS-DOS, and still persist in Windows to this day. Particularly the single-character drive names, which seem pretty ridiculous on modern hardware.
I hope you can bring back the show, here on youtube, with industry guests, new gadgets, PCs, laptops, & tablets...
and of course sell some Merch, T-Shirts, ties, notebook cases, and coffee mugs. :-)
A great man who contribute to define ower futur
Gary is a hero
GK was a giant in PC industry!
1:23 the pre-suv era
The Nikola Tesla of Computer Science 🪦 thank you Garry!
RIP Gary
Poor Gary. :(
It's becoming clear that Bill Gates threw Gary under the bus in his dealing with IBM.
Following the announcement of Kildall's death, Bill Gates commented that he was "one of the original pioneers of the PC revolution" and "a very creative computer scientist who did excellent work. Although we were competitors, I always had tremendous respect for his contributions to the PC industry. His untimely death was very unfortunate and his work will be missed."
@@JasonZakrajsek obviously he was going to say that so coming generations wont eat him and his company alive. The secret deal between them and IBM was shady replaced with muddled lies.
@SteelRodent IBM's consumer division was killed by Dell, Compaq and Gateway not Microsoft
Ps this was a very nice video dedicated to a great scientist and innovative man.
So, 20 to 24 episodes of Computer Chronicles per year. "every two weeks" he said.
If it weren't for the intervention of Bill Gates in copying the original Q-Dos interface, I'm sure Gary would be the official father of Windows and not Bill, as they have been talked about in years.
I have to disagree.
Gary was the father of Graphics Environment Manager (GEM), not of Windows. The 80386 processor and its protected mode made it clear, that neither DOS nor CP/M will be the future of operating systems on the PC.
And IBM wanted an OS that will replace DOS. In our timeline, this OS was called OS/2 and IBM tried to work together with Microsoft to create it, until Microsoft had a big success with Windows 3.0 which run on top of DOS which leaded into their decision to create Windows NT. An OS independent of DOS and a competitor of OS/2.
This means that with the advent of the 80836 processor, there were many opportunities that someone else could have stepped in and created the first protected-mode operating system with a GUI for the PC and its mass market.
Theoretically, one could even have started with the 80286 processor because it also offers a protected mode, with the small disadvantage that it still uses segmented memory and was only 16 bit. IBM tried to support the 286 with OS/2, which caused a delay in the development of OS/2.
This might even have increased a competitor's chances of bringing a 32 Bit protected mode operating system to market in a timely manner far ahead of IBM.
So to sum that up. Gary may have lost in the CP/M and DOS phase, but he could still have won if he had risked creating something new just for the 386 processor and later before Windows NT and Windows 3.0.
their page doesn't seem to wrok any more :/
My personal theory is that he teleported back from the future to kick-start the PC revolution, then teleported home again when his work was done.
Realistically, he was both a genius and from all accounts a genuinely nice guy. What he achieved was simply amazing.
If only Gary had the business sense of Bill Gates instead of his love for booze, this world would be a far better place.
Why was CPM priced so high with IBM?
DRI probably could've beaten Microsuck, if Gary would've just shipped CP/M free to whomever wanted the operating system and then just charged developers a reasonable licensing fee to develop commercial software for the OS.
He was punched by a Hells Angels and had a blood clot that killed him
"a dim memory" I see what you did there.
Wish i could get all the eps.
internet archive