Tim Patterson writes QDOS, forerunner of the MS-DOS microcomputer operating system, in Tukwila in April 1980.

  • By David Wilma
  • Posted 1/01/2000
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 2118
See Additional Media

In April 1980, Tim Patterson of Seattle Computer Products in Tukwila, writes QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) for the Intel 8086 microprocesser (or chip), at the time the most advanced chip for desktop computers. QDOS is the forerunner of MS-DOS.

In October 1980, Seattle Computer Products sold the system to Microsoft of Bellevue, which was secretly developing computer language for IBM.

Patterson participated in further work on a new operating system without knowing the identity of Microsoft's client. This effort resulted in MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), at the beginning of the twenty-first century the operating system on which the vast majority of the world's desktop computers are based.


Sources:

Adam Woog, Sexless Oysters and Self-Tipping Hats: 100 Years of Inventions in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1991), 216-220; Daniel Ichbiah and Susan P. Kneper, The Making of Microsoft (Rocklin, CA: Prime Publishing, 1991), 138-142.


Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You