Yesterday, syndicated columnist Joseph Perkins asserted that Bill Gates is a modern day Edison. He said that in Windows came out in 1983 along with MS Word and how wonderful it was to be able to run 2 apps at once. I seem to first remember Windows 286 from mid-80's and it was incredibly un-usable compared to DOS apps. Was 1983, DOS 2x era, but before the AT?

Am I mistaken, or did Bill Gates invent the iconic, point & shot interface like Al Gore invented the Internet? I'm not certain that Gates is in the same class as the others mentioned in the column, i.e. Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, although his impact may be as great today as they were in their hey days.

Any one remember these events better than I do?