appreciate

Digital Research
The Day Intel Went Flying
There is an old industry rumor. "Gary Kildall came to Intel and offered CP/M for
their microcomputer operating system, and Intel rejected it." CP/M became wildly
successful in the years that followed, and Intel received the brunt of the "Ha. Ha's."
Like most computer folklore, that's not really how it happened. By 1975, Intel's
microcomputer software group had changed control. Hank Smith went to Venrock
Investments to become a very successful venture capitalist, and. in fact. was instrumental
in funding the two Steves at up-and-coming Apple Computers in Cupertino.
Hank Smith. manager of that original Intel microprocessor division later employed
me as a consultant to evaluate their investment at Apple Computers.
Bill Davidow took over Hank's position as leader of the Intel microcomputer
group. Bill was a good manager but wanted all development to be internal to Intel. I
was a wild card for him, and although we had no personal conflict, Bill stopped my
consulting service contracts. This was, coincidentally, at the time of CP/M's inception.
Instead, Davidow tasked Ken Burgett, one of those two initial Intel programmers,
to build a proprietary operating system. Ken built a good one called ISIS that later
became Intel's platform for their own PIJM compiler. I believe it was a good decision
by Bill, and a godsend for me and CP/M.
I went high-tailing it back to Pacific Grove and didn't spend much time with Intel
after that. Maybe a consulting day or two, until the days of Digital Video Interactive
(DVI) in 1990.
Ok, so, I've got this OS that I called CP/M that can be made to fit almost any microcomputer
design. More important, I've got the "tool set" for someone to make their
own programs without using a mainframe. And, it was priced right at $70.
CPIM and Software Pricing
Let's look at the mentality of the day in 1976. On one of those consulting days in
1976, I sat in a meeting at Intel with marketeer Jim Lally as he discussed pricing.
72
Computer Connections