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| Smart Computing® Encyclopedia |
| Gary Kildall | ||
| Were it not for Gary Kildall, inventor of CP/M (control program for
microprocessors), a different OS (operating system) might be necessary for each
brand of personal computer. CP/M was the first OS for computers that was not
proprietary to an individual manufacturer’s brand. As a result of CP/M,
programs could be shared between computers, and software did not have to be
rewritten for each computer maker. Gary Kildall invented CP/M in 1973. The advent of CP/M set the stage for machine-independent, interoperable software, such as Wordstar (for word processing) and Supercalc (for spreadsheet applications.) The inherent benefits of such an OS helped pave the way for MS-DOS, Windows, and the Macintosh OS. Born in 1942 in Seattle, Wash., Kildall’s family owned and operated a school for sailors. Growing up, Kildall became interested in various gadgets and he developed an interest in computer programming. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Washington, and he taught U.S. Navy Postgraduate School while serving with the Navy. He eventually returned to the University of Washington and received his doctorate in computer science in 1972. In 1973, Kildall undertook some contract work for Intel. While at Intel, he determined the need for a computer OS that could control the storage and retrieval of information kept on 5.25-inch floppy diskette. He determined that an OS was needed that could interpret operator commands while using less than 4KB of memory. Kildall called his new invention CP/M. Initially, the letters stood for Control Program/Monitor but eventually became known as control program for microprocessors or control program for microcomputers. Intel was not interested in acquiring the rights to CP/M, so Kildall was free to market his invention on his own. In 1974, while still teaching for the Navy, Kildall and his wife began to sell CP/M through mail orders in technical magazines. That same year, they formed a company first known as Intergalactic Digital Research. They soon changed the name to Digital Research. The personal computer made its debut in 1975, a development that provided a big boost to the new OS. From that year until 1981, CP/M was the OS for almost every PC. Digital Research pretty much had the computer OS field to itself by 1981, when the company’s sales peaked with $5.4 million in sales. In the early 1980s, Kildall’s creation began to lose momentum. Microsoft had been working on developing an OS at the time, and they came up with QDOS (Quick And Dirty Operating System), soon to be renamed MS-DOS, which could run on Intel chips for the 16-bit processor machines that IBM had just started building. Kildall had not upgraded CP/M in time to compete for the IBM business. Growth continued for a couple of years, but things came to an end around 1983, when the new Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program was released. Lotus 1-2-3 could work on MS-DOS but not on CP/M. In 1985, Kildall embarked on a new venture, founding Knowledge-Set. Sensing an opportunity to build information services on CD-ROMs, Knowledge-Set published Grolier’s Encyclopedia in CD-ROM format. Kildall sold his majority interest in Knowledge-Set in the late 1980s and sold the struggling Digital Research to Novell in 1991. He then took on philanthropic endeavors for pediatric AIDS research. He died suddenly in 1994. | ||
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