Tim Paterson

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use list-defined references Template:Infobox person Tim Paterson (born 1 June 1956) is an American computer programmer, best known for creating 86-DOS, an operating system for the Intel 8086. This system emulated the application programming interface (API) of CP/M, which was created by Gary Kildall. 86-DOS later formed the basis of MS-DOS, the most widely used personal computer operating system in the 1980s.

Biography

Paterson was educated in the Seattle Public Schools, graduating from Ingraham High School in 1974. He attended the University of Washington, working as a repair technician for The Retail Computer Store in the Green Lake area of Seattle, Washington, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Computer Science<ref name="Schulman_1990_Undocumented-DOS"/> in June 1978. He went to work for Seattle Computer Products as a designer and engineer.<ref name="Schulman_1990_Undocumented-DOS"/> He designed the hardware of Microsoft's Z-80 SoftCard which had a Z80 CPU and ran the CP/M operating system on an Apple II.

A month later, Intel released the 8086 CPU, and Paterson went to work designing an S-100 8086 board, which went to market in November 1979. The only commercial software that existed for the board was Microsoft's Standalone Disk BASIC-86. The standard CP/M operating system at the time was not available for this CPU and without a true operating system, sales were slow. Paterson began work on QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) in April 1980 to fill that void, copying the APIs of CP/M from references, including the published CP/M manual, so that it would be highly compatible. QDOS was soon renamed as 86-DOS. Version 0.10 was complete by July 1980. By version 1.14, 86-DOS had grown to Template:Val lines of assembly code.<ref name="Duncan_1988_MS-DOS_Encyclopedia"/> In December 1980, Microsoft secured the rights to market 86-DOS to other hardware manufacturers.<ref name="86-DOS_License"/>

While acknowledging that he made 86-DOS compatible with CP/M,<ref name="paterson198306"/> Paterson has maintained that the 86-DOS program was his original work and has denied allegations that he referred to CP/M code while writing it.<ref name="Paterson_1994_Origins"/> When a book appeared in 2004 claiming that 86-DOS was an unoriginal "rip-off" of CP/M,<ref name="evans"/> Paterson sued the authors and publishers for defamation.<ref name="USAToday_2005"/><ref name="Wash_2007"/> The judge found that Paterson failed to "provide any evidence regarding 'serious doubts' about the accuracy of the Gary Kildall chapter. Instead, a careful review of the Lefer notes ... provides a research picture tellingly close to the substance of the final chapter" and the case was dismissed on the basis that the book's claims were constitutionally protected opinions and not provably false.<ref name="Orlowski_2007"/>

Paterson left SCP in April 1981 and worked for Microsoft from May 1981 to April 1982. Microsoft renamed 86-DOS to MS-DOS on 27 July 1981. After a brief second stint with SCP, Paterson started his own company, Falcon Technology, a.k.a. Falcon Systems.<ref name="Schulman_1990_Undocumented-DOS"/> In 1983, Microsoft contracted Paterson to port MS-DOS to the MSX computers standard they were developing with ASCII Corporation. Paterson accepted the contract to help fund his company and completed the work on the MSX-DOS operating system in 1984.<ref name="Paterson_2014_MSX-DOS"/> Falcon Technology was bought by Microsoft in 1986 to reclaim one out of two issued royalty-free licenses for MS-DOS (the other belonging to SCP),<ref name="Lach_1986_Falcon"/> eventually becoming part of Phoenix Technologies.<ref name="Schulman_1990_Undocumented-DOS"/> Paterson worked a second stint with Microsoft from 1986 to 1988,<ref name="Schulman_1990_Undocumented-DOS"/> and a third stint from 1990 to 1998, during which time he worked on Visual Basic.<ref name="Schulman_1990_Undocumented-DOS"/>

After leaving Microsoft a third time, Paterson founded another software development company, Paterson Technology, and also made several appearances on the Comedy Central television program BattleBots. Paterson has also raced rally cars in the SCCA Pro Rally series, and even engineered his own trip computer, which he integrated into the axle of a four-wheel-drive Porsche 911.

External links

• Paterson Technology, a company founded by Tim Paterson
• Tim Paterson's blog