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Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

arstechnica.com

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Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#181

Post by aflag »

imoverclocked wrote: post #180
aflag wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even then, what would that accomplish in most systems? That same disk would most likely be the only permanent storage available to the system when it's inserted. Maybe if you've got two drives and have two floppies inserted at the same time?

DOS systems often had hard drives. Also, floppy virus propagation is possible (aka: Sneakernet.) It was a different era entirely; Writing a TSR was a right of passage. Sometimes just getting something to work without having any other motive was enough to do it. A clever and small TSR might keep a copy of itself in memory and not require two floppies in the case of no hard drive. In comparison to today’s standards, it…

My friends and I didn't have hard drives. But maybe we were just poor. But fair, you could infect another disk if you just switched disks. No need to have both connected at the same time.

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#183

Post by stuaxo »

BobbyTables2 wrote: post #120
curiousObject wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> writing a few thousand lines of assembly was what it took to launch a successful software company. Yes, but that assembly was not DOS, and it wasn’t easy. Microsoft purchased the DOS code, they didn’t write it. Of course, they did develop and modify DOS. But that was a clever (and lucky) business deal, not a technological accomplishment. The real beginning of Microsoft was earlier, with Allen, Gates and Davidoff wr…

Imagine if the University had sued for their share of the IP and that was created using their resources… It’s funny because I thought Jobs/Wozinak got their initial funding from selling phreaking boxes. And more recently, Anthropic engaged in criminal copyright violations with only a slap on the wrist. Feels like a common theme of every “great” company having its origins from a “boost” resulting from criminal activit…

Superhans: "The secret ingredient is crime."

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#184

Post by stuaxo »

azinman2 wrote: post #148
areweai wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of Microsoft, I'm not seeing it. Being born into a 1% household and understanding the asymmetric upside that having the money and the time to speculate is far more significant than the civil and criminal legal violations on the way. The most common way to go from one-percenter rich to .001% rich is to already have enough wealthy people generating capital in your personal network that you can raise capital…

I think you overstate the power of money. Of course it helps. But it’s far from everything. Just look at the number of rich kid fuckups or CEOs with poor backgrounds. It’s just one component that smooths risk and occasionally provides a starter network, but it’s not everything.

Having money doesn't mean you will do anything, but not having it can stop you doing all sorts of things.

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#185

Post by [deleted] »

dboreham wrote: post #130
BobbyTables2 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if the University had sued for their share of the IP and that was created using their resources… It’s funny because I thought Jobs/Wozinak got their initial funding from selling phreaking boxes. And more recently, Anthropic engaged in criminal copyright violations with only a slap on the wrist. Feels like a common theme of every “great” company having its origins from a “boost” resulting from criminal activit…

See also Airbnb and Uber.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#187

Post by chungy »

nextaccountic wrote: post #174
ramon156 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont think I've ever seen a commit that says "49 years ago". Damn.

Even the README here is (erroneously?) timestamped as 1978 https://github.com/microsoft/BASIC-M6502 Which is unlikely since it seems to be written by AI

Files in Git don't have timestamps, only commits do. It got swept up when `git commit --date=...` was run.

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#188

Post by unleaded »

spijdar wrote: post #162
userbinator wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Port it to 64-bit, obviously; the NT kernel has already been ported to a few non-x86 architectures.

Making Windows NT 64-bit is very different from porting it to a 64-bit CPU. Case in point, the NT 4 (and Win2K) releases for the Alpha CPU were technically 64-bit (so far as the CPU lacked a "32-bit mode") but were functionally 32-bit, with all pointers truncated to 32-bits. Further case in point -- the AXP64 port (64-bit Alpha) of NT didn't have the ability to run 32-bit Alpha software. If you want that, you have to…

thank god the 2003 source leaked too!

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#189

Post by nextaccountic »

chungy wrote: post #187
nextaccountic wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the README here is (erroneously?) timestamped as 1978 https://github.com/microsoft/BASIC-M6502 Which is unlikely since it seems to be written by AI

Files in Git don't have timestamps, only commits do. It got swept up when `git commit --date=...` was run.

oh I see. proper archeology would be to have more commits then

Re: Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

#190

Post by derangedHorse »

areweai wrote: post #133
BobbyTables2 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if the University had sued for their share of the IP and that was created using their resources… It’s funny because I thought Jobs/Wozinak got their initial funding from selling phreaking boxes. And more recently, Anthropic engaged in criminal copyright violations with only a slap on the wrist. Feels like a common theme of every “great” company having its origins from a “boost” resulting from criminal activit…

In the case of Microsoft, I'm not seeing it. Being born into a 1% household and understanding the asymmetric upside that having the money and the time to speculate is far more significant than the civil and criminal legal violations on the way. The most common way to go from one-percenter rich to .001% rich is to already have enough wealthy people generating capital in your personal network that you can raise capital…

> followed by asking her for 80,000 dollars ASAP

What real life example is this from?

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