Gates wanted to use Mac OS for clones in '85

In a chilling memo to John Sculley (remember him?) back in 1985, Bill Gates pretty much pleaded with Apple to license their OS to prevent obsolesence. At least, according to an uncredited and unexplained page on Dave Winer's pages somewhere...

If I may be selective in my quoting, allow me to pull a few little nuggets out of Gates' explanation as to why the Mac hadn't become a standard:

"a. Since there is no 'competition' to Apple from 'Mac-compatible' manufacturers, corporations consider it risky to be locked into the Mac, for reasons of price AND choice."

"c. Recent negative publicity about Apple hinders the credibility of the Macintosh as a long term contender in the personal computer market."

"f. Nationalistic pressures in European countries often force foreign to consumers [sic] choose local manufacturers. Europeans have local suppliers of the IBM architecture, but not Apple. Apple will lose ground in Europe as was recently exhibited in France."

Bill G's solution? "Apple should license Macintosh technology to 3-5 significant manufacturers for the development of 'Mac Compatibles'" which he then goes on to recommend such heavyweights (at the time) as AT&T, Wang, and DEC. I probably would have picked up a WangMac.

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Source: http://www.scripting.com/specials/gatesLetter/text.html

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In a chilling memo to John Sculley (remember him?) back in 1985, Bill Gates pretty much pleaded with Apple to license their OS to prevent...

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d.w.

This, of course, leads back to an old computer joke from the 80's: Q: Who was the first computer operator? A: Eve. She had an Apple in one hand and a Wang in the other.

October 20 2005 at 9:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

superpixel

Thank you Dave for putting the context on/in/around this!

October 19 2005 at 8:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dave Winer

Further explanation here... http://archive.scripting.com/2005/10/19#When:7:05:54PM Dave

October 19 2005 at 7:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dave Winer

The explanation for the memo. 1. I asked if anyone knew where I could find a copy of it on the web, in a postscript to this piece. http://davenet.scripting.com/1997/10/23/moralArguments 2. Microsoft's PR firm sent a copy in response, and I posted it, in this piece. http://davenet.scripting.com/1997/10/24/gatesToSculley

October 19 2005 at 7:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ian Betteridge

Gates was completely right on the first point. Corporates hate to be locked into single suppliers, for very good reasons - consider Apple's own problems when they were locked into a single chip supplier (Motorola) for an example of why.

October 19 2005 at 9:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

timothy broyles

My father worked for Wang during that time, and they had a deal about to be struck for Apple to buy them out (or "partner" but we know what that means). It stopped because Dr. Wang (the big boss of course) was upset that it would be called Apple Wang Division, not Wang Apple, or some such nonsense. He (Dr. Wang) was so pridefull he'd rather see his company croak than play second fiddle. While he didn't live to see it, his son oversaw the company's demise. It would have created a great powerhouse, because, at the time, Wang was a huge Digital competitor (another 80's computer powerhouse for those of you too young to remember) and had some great tech on their side.

October 19 2005 at 2:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ian Adams

*snicker* "WangMac"

October 19 2005 at 2:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Wow, i sort of wish apple had done it. That would mean uch cheaper macs for us and better compatibility with a higher user base.

October 18 2005 at 7:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

superpixel

Jon the NeXTSTEP piece is here: http://www.tuaw.com/2005/10/18/why-apple-didnt-switch-to-intel-before-2006/ In other breaking news, the Apple IIgs has been discontinued, and a new software product known as WebObjects is being developed according to NeXTInsider.

October 18 2005 at 7:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jon

Thanks for the breaking news there buddy. When are you going to post about the new release of Windows 2.0? Or how about a post about Steve Jobs' new venture, NextStep?

October 18 2005 at 6:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply