>CPM predated MS Dos... I believe...
>
>CP/M was well before MS-DOS, that's correct. It ran on the 8080/8085 microcomputer. And IBM initially was going to use CP/M on the first PC, but wound up working with Microsoft instead. CP/M lost huge market share during that process as people moved from microcomputers to PCs.
>
>Something I didn't know until reading tonight....CP/M eventually (over several iterations) became DR-DOS.

And IBM went with Microsoft's version instead of Digital Research's because DRI head Gary Kildall was off flying his plane at exactly the wrong time. See the "IBM Dealings" section here ---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kildall

As an aside, the mention of Data General there makes me wonder how many heard the other day that Tom West died. It was just before the Memorial Day weekend so it was probably little noticed. West was the head of DG's Eagle development team and the hero of Tracy Kidder's magnificent computer book "The Soul of a New Machine" (which wasn't actually a computer book at all).

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/business/28west.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tom%20west%20obit&st=cse

http://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0316491977

11 bucks! The Times obit does not mention that TSOANM won the American Book Award in addition to the Pulitzer and is part of the Modern Library, which is not exactly overflowing with computer-related titles.

The last paragraph of the Times obit makes me think --

His daughter Jessamyn offered another perspective: “My dad loved routine. He rolled his sleeves up exactly the same way every morning. He went to work at exactly the same time every day. It was what gave him the freedom to think.”

Very early in my career I worked with a guy who was exactly like that. It's accurate to call him my programming mentor, someone who implanted in me certain inalienable beliefs that have served me well for many years. Don't take the easy way out. Do it right. His biggest term of scorn for developers he didn't respect was "rummy." By that he meant those who had enough credentials to get hired but whose designs and code set the teeth of true artisans on edge. The same is true of bricklayers, auto mechanics, teachers, any trade you care to name. So anyway, for about a year Jim and I were working together at Ralphs Grocery, a client in L.A., and rented an apartment together in Redondo Beach, across the Esplanade from the Pacific Ocean. Now that was sweet. Talk about leaving the workday behind, however long it might be. At the time it drove me nuts that Jim was so habitual a roommate. His standard dinner was two McDonald's quarter pounders with cheese and an order of fries picked up on the way home. He would eat the fries first, opening one of the royale with cheese containers and dumping the fries into the open half, then adding ketchup. Drove me crazy. But the next day at work he was absolutely the guy you wanted to talk to about a tricky issue. You would get college level comp sci professor advice without any artifice.

Do it right. That's a tribute to Jim as well as Tom West, the people who do it well enough to inspire us to keep after this sometimes aggravating line of work.