Steve Ballmer

That didn't actually get settled, I think, until shortly after I got here in the term of Reagan.

That didn't actually get settled, I think, until shortly after I got here in the term of Reagan.

Ah. I don't remember. It may be when they had to unbundle. In fact, I think it was when they had to unbundle the operating system from the mainframe hardware so people could build IBM compatible mainframes. And then one day, shortly after I got here, Some guys from IBM call and they say, hey, can we come see you?

Ah. I don't remember. It may be when they had to unbundle. In fact, I think it was when they had to unbundle the operating system from the mainframe hardware so people could build IBM compatible mainframes. And then one day, shortly after I got here, Some guys from IBM call and they say, hey, can we come see you?

And you're going to have to sign an agreement that says you can use nothing we tell you, anything you tell us we can use. And so these guys showed up and they told us after we signed their agreement that they wanted to build a PC and they were hoping to get the operating system and Some of our language software for it. And they were coming to you for the language software?

And you're going to have to sign an agreement that says you can use nothing we tell you, anything you tell us we can use. And so these guys showed up and they told us after we signed their agreement that they wanted to build a PC and they were hoping to get the operating system and Some of our language software for it. And they were coming to you for the language software?

No, they came to us for the operating system. Ah. Now, why? You'd say, we weren't in the operating system business. We had a card called the CPM soft card or the soft card for the Apple II. It was a card that plugged into an Apple II. that ran CPM, not our operating system.

No, they came to us for the operating system. Ah. Now, why? You'd say, we weren't in the operating system business. We had a card called the CPM soft card or the soft card for the Apple II. It was a card that plugged into an Apple II. that ran CPM, not our operating system.

Gary Kildall Digital Research was the name of the company. But we had licensed it to put on this card that plugged in the Apple II. And somehow IBM thought they could license CPM even though it wasn't our product, they thought they could license it from us.

Gary Kildall Digital Research was the name of the company. But we had licensed it to put on this card that plugged in the Apple II. And somehow IBM thought they could license CPM even though it wasn't our product, they thought they could license it from us.

And we said, no, no, no, but you can license our language software, but there are these guys down in Pacific Grove, California, and Bill called Gary Kildall and said, there's some guys, they want to talk to you. They're important. And Gary, they went down there and they didn't sign the non-disclosure agreement.

And we said, no, no, no, but you can license our language software, but there are these guys down in Pacific Grove, California, and Bill called Gary Kildall and said, there's some guys, they want to talk to you. They're important. And Gary, they went down there and they didn't sign the non-disclosure agreement.

And in the meantime, there was a company here in Seattle called Seattle Computer Products that had a little CPM clone.

And in the meantime, there was a company here in Seattle called Seattle Computer Products that had a little CPM clone.

It was pretty good. There was a company that happened to be here in town. Paul, Ellen, and I went down there. And we met with the founder, who later came to work at Microsoft, a guy named Tim Patterson. And we offered him, I think we paid $45,000 or $49,000 for this operating system because we told IBM, no, no, we can... uh, take care of it.

It was pretty good. There was a company that happened to be here in town. Paul, Ellen, and I went down there. And we met with the founder, who later came to work at Microsoft, a guy named Tim Patterson. And we offered him, I think we paid $45,000 or $49,000 for this operating system because we told IBM, no, no, we can... uh, take care of it.

There was kind of a famous meeting amongst me and Paul, uh, and Bill and this guy, Kazuhiko Nishi, who ran our kind of affiliate in Japan, uh, where we were talking about this. And there was a lot of, let's just say four letter words thrown around, uh, Scroom's five letters, but you get the drift.

There was kind of a famous meeting amongst me and Paul, uh, and Bill and this guy, Kazuhiko Nishi, who ran our kind of affiliate in Japan, uh, where we were talking about this. And there was a lot of, let's just say four letter words thrown around, uh, Scroom's five letters, but you get the drift.

That was kind of the theme. Kaz was kind of a cowboy. He was kind of, yeah. Yeah, Nishi, absolutely a cowboy. So we went, we sold it to him. Half of what we paid for it, we thought, we can do this 10, 20 times. 20 times 21,000, 400,000 against 50,000 we paid for it.

That was kind of the theme. Kaz was kind of a cowboy. He was kind of, yeah. Yeah, Nishi, absolutely a cowboy. So we went, we sold it to him. Half of what we paid for it, we thought, we can do this 10, 20 times. 20 times 21,000, 400,000 against 50,000 we paid for it.