A few days ago, Microsoft open-sourced DOS 4.0. This isn’t really big news because:
- It’s a very old operating system that no one uses;
- This isn’t the first time DOS has been open-sourced; versions 1.25 and 2.0 were released six years ago.
Interestingly, netizens discovered that after the open-source release, someone named mzbik eagerly modified a comment in the code:
The comment translated to: “The brain-damaged Tim Patterson…”
mzbik changed “Tim Patterson” to the abbreviation “TP,” leaving the rest unchanged.
This raises some interesting questions.
Who is Tim Patterson, and why is he considered “brain-damaged?”
Who is mzbik, and why did he do this?
01
How QDOS Became MS-DOS: The Tim Paterson and Mark Zbikowski Journey That Shaped Microsoft’s Empire
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, personal computers were on the cusp of exploding in popularity.
In Seattle, Washington, a company called Seattle Computer Products (SCP) decided to use Intel’s 8086 to assemble personal computers but lacked a suitable operating system.
So, Tim Paterson from the company wrote an operating system called QDOS, short for Quick and Dirty Disk Operating System. Surprisingly, the company was comfortable using that name.
QDOS was modeled after the popular PC operating system CP/M, and they were very similar, making it easy to port software from CP/M to QDOS.
Version 0.1 was completed in July 1980.
If QDOS had continued to develop, it could have thrived.
But its fate was completely altered by Microsoft and Bill Gates.
In 1981, Gates seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide an operating system for IBM’s PC.
At the time, Gates was incredibly bold, signing a contract with IBM even though he didn’t yet have an operating system.
Microsoft had previously done business with SCP in Seattle, and Gates quickly identified QDOS. He decisively bought QDOS for $50,000 and also hired its creator, Tim Paterson, to port QDOS to IBM PCs equipped with the 8088 CPU.
Naturally, the unattractive name QDOS couldn’t stay, so the new name became MS-DOS.
Gates, the business genius, knew that other companies would copy IBM PCs and use MS-DOS. So, he firmly refused IBM’s attempt to buy the operating system outright and insisted on keeping the rights to license MS-DOS to other computer manufacturers.
This was likely one of Microsoft’s most influential decisions. Gates positioned the company to ride the wave of personal computing.
Eventually, MS-DOS became almost the only operating system on every PC-compatible machine, and the Microsoft empire took shape.
Tim Paterson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Paterson), the author of MS-DOS, was indispensable, though he was somewhat restless. He worked at Microsoft three times. The first was from May 1981 to April 1982, leaving after developing the first version of MS-DOS to start his own company.
After his departure, Mark Zbikowski (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zbikowski) became the lead developer of DOS, handling development from DOS 2.0 through DOS 4.0.
Mark Zbikowski was a legendary programmer at Microsoft. He contributed the hierarchical directory structure and installable device drivers (later plug-and-play) to DOS, then participated in developing Windows NT as the file system architect and development manager.
Just as Phil Katz etched his initials into the Zip file format, Mark Zbikowski inscribed his initials in DOS executable files. The “Magic Number” for these files was 4D 5A, representing “MZ.“
Mark Zbikowski exemplified loyalty, working at Microsoft for 25 years after being recruited by Steve Ballmer. He was the third person, after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, to achieve that milestone at Microsoft.
02
Mark Zbikowski, aka mzbik: Uncovering the Controversial Code Comments in DOS 4.0
Observant individuals may have already noticed that Mark Zbikowski is the same as mzbik on GitHub!
Mzbik has a vivid memory of this comment from over 40 years ago, possibly because he wrote it himself.
So, as soon as DOS 4.0 was open-sourced, he immediately remembered this incident and hurriedly changed it.
If it weren’t for the quick action of a user named OwnedByWuigi, who forked the earliest released DOS 4.0 code repository, we might never have known about this.
Programmers often see profanity in code comments.
But usually, this profanity criticizes poor code rather than attacking individuals. Explicitly insulting Tim Paterson by name in the DOS source code, calling him “brain-damaged,” was excessive.
Mark Zbikowski changed “Tim Paterson” to “TP,” which only aroused further curiosity. Was Mark just trying to attract attention?
Only those directly involved can probably explain why Tim Paterson was criticized this way.
03
Microsoft Open-Sources DOS: Skepticism Surrounds Release of Least Popular Versions
Microsoft open-sourced DOS, but only the least important versions. The most popular ones, such as 3.x, 5.x, and 6.x, haven’t been released.
Additionally, Bryan Lunduke (a former Microsoft employee) noted that while tech media covered Microsoft’s open sourcing of DOS 4.0, the source code can’t even be compiled! You can’t build a functional MS-DOS 4.0 from it.
This type of open sourcing-is like showing off old, unused relics. What’s the point of such open sourcing?
Microsoft claims to embrace open source and Linux, and it has open-sourced several of its products, most notably VS Code. But when it comes to its operating systems, Microsoft remains very conservative.
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