"The programmer generally credited with building the basis for Microsoft's landmark computer operation system has sued an author who alleges the software was simply a "rip-off" of another man's work," reports AP.
"Tim Paterson, who created the software later known as DOS and sold it to Microsoft, filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Harold Evans and the publishers of his book, They Made America.
"The lawsuit is over a chapter in Evans' book about Gary Kildall, who founded Digital Research and died in 1994 at age 52. The book claims Paterson's software was simply a "slapdash clone" and "rip-off" of Kildall's CP/M operating system, developed in the 1970s."
Comment: The book was blogged here with reference to a Business Week Online story, The Man Who Could Have Been Bill Gates, below.
