Have you heard of Gary Kildall?
Most people haven’t got a clue who Gary Kildall was, and the sad truth is that, although he may hardly be known, his inventions have hugely influenced technology today. Gary was the true pioneer in the revolution of personal computing, so why have his contributions been underplayed?
Gary Arlen Kildall was born on 19th May 1942 in Seattle, Washington State, USA. His father Joseph Kildall’s roots were Norwegian, and his mother Emma’s half Swedish. His father was a captain and ran a seamanship school.
Gary attended the University of Washington, and in 1967 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics , then in 1968 a masters degree in Computer Science; his original intention was to become a maths teacher. He taught at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California whilst undergoing conscription into military service. However, his studies inspired him to pursue computer technology, and he achieved a PhD in computer science in 1972.
Gary died on 11th July 1994 at the age of 52, in shady and unresolved circumstances when he had so much more to offer the world. More about his illustrious career to follow, but a big question relating to this technical brain is how and why did he miss his big opportunity?
Gary Kildall’s career evolves
In 1973, Gary developed an innovative programming language for microcomputers – known as PL/M – by using Intel 8008 and 8080 processors ,a big step forward from the huge mainframe computers of the time that were complicated to use. He also wrote instruction set simulators for Intel, i.e. simulations coded in high-level programming language mimicking the operation of a microprocessor. with the assistance of Kathryn Strutynski, also a mathematician and computer scientist, and engineer developer Tom Rolander, Gary then developed the revolutionary Control Program for Microcomputers (CP/M) in 1979.
Tom reflects back on his first meeting with Gary in the science lab. Gary was carrying a briefcase containing a never-before-seen portable laptop and connected it to a teletype to operate it. Even more remarkable is that desktop computers had not yet been invented!
CP/M laid the groundwork for future computing, and enabled the 8080 to control a drive for floppy discs. It was in fact the first time that all the workings that make up a mainstream microcomputer were combined. Gary demonstrated CP/M to Intel, who rejected it in favour of marketing PL/M.
Digital Research Incorporated
Gary founded Intergalactic Digital Research, which later became Digital Research Inc. (DRI), with his wife Dorothy – nee McEwen – in Pacific Grove, California. Tom was their first employee inexciting times as they forged and shaped the future of the computer industry. DRI marketed CP/M which was licensed to an increasing number of manufacturers as it supported many variations of hardware. Gary pioneered the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware that made it possible for CP/M to operate on different systems. This became an instant success with 3,000 varying computer models using it by 1981 and bringing in an annual revenue of US$5.4 million for the company. Gary scrambled to update the system to accommodate hard disk drives and high density floppy disks.
Computer animation
Brian Halla, Intel’s technical consultant to Digital Research during the 1970s, recalls Gary showing him a VAX 11-780 generating a spinning Coca Cola bottle – Gary sold the VAX 11-780 to Pixar Animation Studios a few months later.
The lost opportunity with IBM
In 1980, Bill Gates, a good friend of Gary’s at the time, was approached by IBM, but as he didn’t have anything to offer them, suggested that they approach DRI to discuss their interest in purchasing the updated CP/M-86 version for IBM PCs. For various reasons and muddled circumstances DRI and IBM failed to reach an agreement.
Was it really because Gary was away and his wife refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement with IBM prior to their meeting, not knowing what it was about and without Gary’s approval? The one-sided non-disclosure agreement would have meant that DRI could not disclose anything discussed nor even meeting them, but yet IBM could publicly disclose everything about DRI.
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Was it because Bill Gates couldn’t or wouldn’t reveal to Gary that the interested party was IBM? At the time of the meeting, Gary was flying in his private airplane with Tom delivering CPM software to a manufacturer. If he’d known that IBM had called the meeting, perhaps he would have changed his plans. In any case, contrary to stories that circulated later. Tom confirms that they did make it back to join the meeting in the afternoon, but by then, things had already gone off track.
Could it be because DRI didn’t agree to IBM’s unfair terms, and wouldn’t sell their leading product outright for a once-off payment, as opposed to receiving royalties? Furthermore, IBM wanted to rename CP/M as PC DOS. In Tom’s words: ‘IBM approached Microsoft and tried to acquire what Microsoft had cloned of CPM, QDOS’.
Gary maintained that he and Dorothy had reached a handshake agreement with IBM’s lead negotiator, Jack Sams, on a flight together when they were heading to Florida on vacation. However, Jack denied ever meeting Gary, and returned to talk to Microsoft again. He instructed Bill Gates to source a workable operating system, and a few weeks later, Bill Gates proposed the 86-DOS system from Seattle Computer Products (SCP) ,using Gary’s CP/M application programming interface (API). Paul Allen, Bill Gates’ partner in Microsoft, signed a licensing deal with SCP, and adapted the 86-DOS for IBM’s hardware, which was then sold as the IBM PC DOS.
It was almost a year later when Gary discovered that PC DOS was based on his original CP/M. He was furious, but at that time the laws on intellectual property for software weren’t established or clear-cut enough to take IBM to court. Gary threatened to pursue legal action, and when they realized they could face a copyright lawsuit, IBM made him a counter offer. A deal was struck whereby DRI agreed to let IBM sell both CP/M and MS DOS side-by-side. Presuming that IBM’s new system would follow its predecessors by not becoming much of a commercial success, Gary accepted. Tom recalls that they were shocked to see that CP/M was priced six times higher than DOS, which obviously blew CP/M out the market.
The rest is history as IBM PC DOS stormed across the globe to become the leading operating system of the time, and Microsoft the leading provider.
Bill Gates flippantly refers to the incident as ‘the day Gary went off flying’. Jacqui Morby of TA Associates, private equity investors in technology companies, attended a panel for the Rosen Forum and recalls how when Gary spoke about his plans for CP/M and his company and commented, ‘This is a very large market and there is room for many companies’, he was interrupted by Bill Gates who said, ‘No, there’ll only be one company’.
What did Gary Kildall do then?
Gary attempted to continue doing what he loved with the desire to leave the whole wretched affair behind him. Because of the dismal loss of the IBM deal, DRI were under pressure to employ managers who had more experience. Gary then turned his attention to his research and experimental projects. He upgraded the CP/M with multitasking functions.
Gary also attempted to create the Logo programming language to replace BASIC used in the educational arena, but failed. DRI developed FlexOS in 1985; this was a real-time multitasking operating system for multi-users, which was discontinued in 1999.
DRI then developed their own graphical user interface called GEM after Gary had seen a demonstration of the Apple Lisa desktop computer. The GEM launched on 28th February 1985. In 1991, DRI was purchased by Novell Inc., a software and services company, for US$ 80 million.
On 28th June 1985 ,Gary resigned as CEO of DRI, but continued as chairman of the board.
From computing to television
The Public Broadcasting Service of America invited Gary to co-host their public TV series “Computer Chronicles” covering personal computing trends of the time. Gary co-hosted the first eight seasons from 1983 to 1990. The series ran until its 19th season, airing for the last time on 25th June 2002.
What came next?
Gary started another company in 1984 called Activenture, adapting optical disc storage technology such as CDs and DVDs using the Red Book, which had been created by Philips and Sony in 1980 as a reference for digital audio (CD-DA) and its extensions. Philips and Sony launched the CD-ROM in 1985 and Activenture became KnowledgeSet.
The first electronic encyclopedia was published by DRI in June 1985. The Grolier American Encyclopedia was on a CD-ROM and could store 550 megabytes. It also had some functions that we use today, such as hypertext links, text search engine and a bookshelf interface – images were added in 1990 and videos in 1992. It was purchased by Banta Corporation, and the last version in CD-ROM format was published in 2003.
The last business venture that Gary entered into was called Prometheus Light and Sound (PLS). Based in Austin, Texas, itestablished a private branch exchange system (PBX) called Intelliphone, integrating mobile and land-line telephones.
Reflections on a tech genius
Gary has been described as being adventurous, creative, fun-loving and easygoing and generally had a great love of life. Flying was his first love, and he owned several airplanes including a Lear Jet. He also enjoyed the sea and boating, sports cars and motor racing. Gary was always known to be ethical in all his dealings, enthusiastic and open to sharing his discoveries, but he possibly lacked the aggressive acumen that it takes to run a business.
The whole IBM debacle was exacerbated by Bill Gates and the media, implying that Gary was irresponsible in taking off for a spin in his airplane on that fateful day. As much as Gary attempted to get on with his life and create something with meaning, he felt overshadowed by Microsoft and was constantly compared to Bill Gates. The relentless questions about his flying jaunt also began to fray his nerves. Gary felt that he wasn’t acknowledged for his contributions, and was becoming a fading memory. All of this resulted in his growing exceedingly bitter, and in later years took a toll on his well-being when he turned to alcohol.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Novell purchase had brought him prosperity and a life of luxury, enabling him to buy a lakeside home in Austin and a mansion with a view of the ocean in Pebble Beach, California, close to DRI’s head office, Gary’s bitterness festered. He threw some of his energy into volunteering to assist children with HIV/AIDS.
“Computer Connections”
The final straw that completely rocked Gary’s boat might have been when the University of Washington invited him to their computer science program’s 25th anniversary event. Much to his disappointment, they didn’t ask him to address the audience, even though he was a renowned graduate of the program. Instead they got Bill Gates, who had dropped out of Harvard and who had never attended the university, but donated to it, to give the keynote speech.
This galvanized Gary to put pen to paper and begin writing his memoir. It was entitled “Computer Connections: People, Places and Events in the Evolution of the Personal Computer Industry” wherein he vented his frustrations. Gary considered Bill Gates to be ‘more of an opportunist than a technical type, and severely opinionated, even when the opinion he holds is absurd.’ He goes on to say, ‘Don’t think for a minute that Gates made it ‘big time’ because of his technical savvy.’
He stated that the DOS matter was purely theft, as it copied the initial 26 commands of his CP/M and that IBM had contrived the pricing difference between it and PC DOS in order to diminish its saleability.
By the end of 1993, a rough draft of the memoir was completed, but sadly the entire manuscript was never published.
The British-American journalist, writer and newspaper editor, Sir Harold Evans, wrote a chapter about Gary based on “Computer Connections” in his book “They Made America“,published in 2004. He caused a stir by deducing that IBM had tricked Gary, that Bill Gates, the shrewder businessman, had won, and that Microsoft had in fact stolen Gary’s invention. Of course IBM denied this,and Microsoft cited them as being inaccurate and biased. Sir Harold claims that Tim Patterson of SCP had partially copied Gary’s CP/M, but Tim claims that he invented DOS at the age of 24. So has he incorrectly been labeled “The Father of DOS”?
Gary Kildall — the computer scientist who could have been Bill Gates.
His mistake which eventually caused his death is the saddest story in the history of tech.
Here is the story of the man that created the first operating system but lost billions to Microsoft in the 1980s: pic.twitter.com/wCAP4RV7gQ
— Michael Asiedu (@MichaelAsiedu_) January 16, 2023
Furthermore, according to the book, the entire world’s PC users had to deal with ‘more than a decade of crashes with incalculable economic cost in lost data and lost opportunities.’
Tim sued Sir Harold, but the court dismissed his claim,stating that it was widely-known in the industry that there were similarities between CP/M and DOS, and that no evidence had been provided that any comments in the relevant chapter of Sir Harold’s book could be proven defamatory or false.
The first seven chapters of “Computer Connections” were made available by Gary’s children, Scott and Kristin in August 2016, as a free download on the Computer History Museum’s website.
They wrote the introduction to the book saying that many didn’t know their father and those who did would recall the myth of his missed opportunity to become Bill Gates by going flying the day he should’ve met with IBM. They state, ‘Unfortunately, this tall tale paints Gary as a ‘could-have-been,’ ignores his deep contributions, and overshadows his role as an inventor of key technologies that define how computeplar tforms run today.’ They go on to say that ‘Gary viewed computers as learning tools rather than profit engines… ‘ and that his ethic of sharing ideas ‘resembles that of the open-source community today.
Gary Kildall’s death
Gary met his end after he’d suffered a head injury in a bar. He was discharged twice from the Monterey Peninsula Hospital, and pronounced dead on 11th July 1994; the autopsy on the next day wasn’t able to confirm the cause of death. Did Gary’s head injury trigger a cerebral hemorrhage as alleged by Sir Harold? It was also inferred that he was concussed, then died of a heart attack, which doesn’t make sense.
The coroner reported that there was evidence of chronic alcoholism, but said Gary’s injury could have been ‘the result of foul play’ and referred the case to th,e Monterey Police Department. Sgt. Frank Sollecito said they were investigating it as a possible homicide and that Gary could have died from a blow to the head, or by falling and hitting his head. Various versions of what occurred at the bar were described by others; the actual truth has never been uncovered and remains a mystery to this day.
Gary’s cremated remains lie buried in the Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle.
In memory of Gary Kildall
In 1995, after Gary’s death, the American television presenter, Steward Cheifert, broadcast “The Computer Chronicles – Gary Kildall Special”. Tom said that Gary’s friends and co-workers confirm that Gary’s story was factual, and that IBM, Microsoft and Bill Gates had indeed created a myth to depose him.
Tom relates how after the IBM failure, Gary kept on trying to invent new technology that would be a big win, but that remained elusive. Gary was well-loved and an open person with vast interests and driven by ideas to expand the human potential – he made a big difference, and upon his death, a ‘bright light was extinguished’.
The whole affair with IBM goes down as possibly the biggest commercial error in the history of technology – a $100 billion mistake. Although Gary did well financially, it’s a shame that he never achieved the acknowledgment he deserved and craved. It’s not known how much Gary was worth at his time of death, but according to Forbes, Bill Gates’ is sitting pretty with his current net worth in the region of $105 billion. Quite possibly a large portion of that was spring boarded by his IBM coup.
