1. John Opel: Failure to Purchase 86-DOS or Develop a Good Alternative to DOS
IBM, under the direction of John Opel tried to find proper software platform for its future PC models and the company went looking for an alternative after negotiations with Digital Research failed. At the same time, Microsoft under Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer approached Seattle Computer Products, a small software firm, which developer the 86-DOS that uses identical command interpreter to CP/M. Microsoft renamed the product “DOS” after purchasing the OS for a mere $75,000.
During these critical months, IBM could have a good opportunity to bid the 86-DOS for a higher price or simply purchased Microsoft before it sold millions of DOS licenses. A small good decision in these critical months could have very significant impacts to current tech industry.
John Pope might also need to quickly seal the deal with Digital Research in the first place, which gave it more time and opportunity to compete with Microsoft’s DOS.