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Tim Paterson
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<h2 id="biography">Biography</h2> <p>Paterson was educated in the <a href="/facts/Seattle_Public_Schools/KNWt3Nsd">Seattle Public Schools</a>, graduating from <a href="/facts/Ingraham_High_School/HfGBXcae">Ingraham High School</a> in 1974. He attended the <a href="/facts/University_of_Washington/36PG6qkG">University of Washington</a>, working as a repair <a href="/facts/Technician/FogdL14W">technician</a> for The Retail Computer Store in the <a href="/facts/Green_Lake,_Seattle/0BwwFpBW">Green Lake</a> area of <a href="/facts/Seattle/7lYIrCa6">Seattle</a>, Washington, and graduated <i><a href="/facts/Magna_cum_laude/BqMYAlgN">magna cum laude</a></i> with a degree in Computer Science<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> in June 1978. He went to work for <a href="/facts/Seattle_Computer_Products/Av2YUqDQ">Seattle Computer Products</a> as a designer and engineer.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> He designed the hardware of Microsoft's <a href="/facts/Z-80_SoftCard/8b2yGT0j">Z-80 SoftCard</a> which had a <a href="/facts/Zilog_Z80/Jeqe2h55">Z80</a> CPU and ran the <a href="/facts/CP/M/n5rTgXdC">CP/M</a> operating system on an <a href="/facts/Apple_II/se82CNvK">Apple II</a>. </p><p>A month later, Intel released the <a href="/facts/Intel_8086/sS9dlSdK">8086</a> CPU, and Paterson went to work designing an <a href="/facts/S-100_bus/3C5L4KSt">S-100</a> 8086 board, which went to market in November 1979. The only commercial software that existed for the board was Microsoft's <a href="/facts/Standalone_Disk_BASIC-86/SuctFIyc">Standalone Disk BASIC-86</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/API/GMlN4vUr">APIs</a> of CP/M from references, including the published CP/M manual, so that it would be highly compatible. QDOS was soon renamed as <a href="/facts/86-DOS/u0Hm0Ijv">86-DOS</a>. Version <a href="/facts/QDOS_0.10/u0Hm0Ijv">0.10</a> was complete by July 1980. By version <a href="/facts/86-DOS_1.14/u0Hm0Ijv">1.14</a>, 86-DOS had grown to 4000 lines of assembly code.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> In December 1980, <a href="/facts/Microsoft/nGIDDXdx">Microsoft</a> secured the rights to market 86-DOS to other hardware manufacturers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>While acknowledging that he made 86-DOS compatible with CP/M,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> 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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> When a book appeared in 2004 claiming that 86-DOS was an unoriginal "rip-off" of CP/M,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> Paterson sued the authors and publishers for <a href="/facts/Defamation/uEe9LxeQ">defamation</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> The judge found that Paterson failed to "provide any evidence regarding 'serious doubts' about the accuracy of the <a href="/facts/Gary_Kildall/yzxo0mLU">Gary Kildall</a> chapter. Instead, a careful review of the <a href="/facts/David_Lefer/Kj3K7m1n">Lefer</a> 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 <a href="/facts/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution/1hNSoIvG">constitutionally protected</a> opinions and not provably false.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> </p><p>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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> In 1983, Microsoft contracted Paterson to port MS-DOS to the <a href="/facts/MSX/mthwra8a">MSX</a> computers standard they were developing with <a href="/facts/ASCII_Corporation/Vf2w3L9X">ASCII Corporation</a>. Paterson accepted the contract to help fund his company and completed the work on the <a href="/facts/MSX-DOS/xbb74Lbw">MSX-DOS</a> operating system in 1984.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> 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),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> eventually becoming part of <a href="/facts/Phoenix_Technologies/eD3JIYFW">Phoenix Technologies</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> Paterson worked a second stint with Microsoft from 1986 to 1988,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> and a third stint from 1990 to 1998, during which time he worked on <a href="/facts/Visual_Basic_(classic)/7QMXM6fP">Visual Basic</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p><p>After leaving Microsoft a third time, Paterson founded another software development company, Paterson Technology, and also made several appearances on the <a href="/facts/Comedy_Central/U7I96eLA">Comedy Central</a> <a href="/facts/Television/X4YG5nT1">television</a> program <i><a href="/facts/BattleBots/YqvlVWx7">BattleBots</a></i>. Paterson has also raced rally cars in the <a href="/facts/Sports_Car_Club_of_America/atsHHU5H">SCCA</a> <a href="/facts/SCCA_ProRally/McGrApbb">Pro Rally</a> series, and even engineered his own <a href="/facts/Trip_computer/VdEW6ogb">trip computer</a>, which he integrated into the axle of a four-wheel-drive <a href="/facts/Porsche_911/PLDIaFyy">Porsche 911</a>. </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikiquote has quotations related to <i>Tim Paterson</i>. <ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190524035357/http://patersontech.com/">Paterson Technology</a>, a company founded by Tim Paterson</li> <li><a href="http://dosmandrivel.blogspot.com/">Tim Paterson's blog</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Schulman, Andrew; Michels, Raymond J.; Kyle, Jim; Paterson, Tim; Maxey, David; Brown, Ralf D. (1990). Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-57064-9. ark:/13960/t14n8vs6f. Retrieved 2022-11-26. (xviii+694+viii pages, 2 5.25"-floppies) Errata: [1][2] <a href="978-0-201-57064-9" target="_blank">978-0-201-57064-9</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Schulman, Andrew; Michels, Raymond J.; Kyle, Jim; Paterson, Tim; Maxey, David; Brown, Ralf D. (1990). Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-57064-9. ark:/13960/t14n8vs6f. Retrieved 2022-11-26. (xviii+694+viii pages, 2 5.25"-floppies) Errata: [1][2] <a href="978-0-201-57064-9" target="_blank">978-0-201-57064-9</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Zbikowski, Mark; Allen, Paul; Ballmer, Steve; Borman, Reuben; Borman, Rob; Butler, John; Carroll, Chuck; Chamberlain, Mark; Chell, David; Colee, Mike; Courtney, Mike; Dryfoos, Mike; Duncan, Rachel; Eckhardt, Kurt; Evans, Eric; Farmer, Rick; Gates, Bill; Geary, Michael; Griffin, Bob; Hogarth, Doug; Johnson, James W.; Kermaani, Kaamel; King, Adrian; Koch, Reed; Landowski, James; Larson, Chris; Lennon, Thomas; Lipkie, Dan; McDonald, Marc; McKinney, Bruce; Martin, Pascal; Mathers, Estelle; Matthews, Bob; Melin, David; Mergentime, Charles; Nevin, Randy; Newell, Dan; Newell, Tani; Norris, David; O'Leary, Mike; O'Rear, Bob; Olsson, Mike; Osterman, Larry; Ostling, Ridge; Pai, Sunil; Paterson, Tim; Perez, Gary; Peters, Chris; Petzold, Charles; Pollock, John; Reynolds, Aaron; Rubin, Darryl; Ryan, Ralph; Schulmeisters, Karl; Shah, Rajen; Shaw, Barry; Short, Anthony; Slivka, Ben; Smirl, Jon; Stillmaker, Betty; Stoddard, John; Tillman, Dennis; Whitten, Greg; Yount, Natalie; Zeck, Steve (1988). "Technical advisors". The MS-DOS Encyclopedia: versions 1.0 through 3.2. By Duncan, Ray; Bostwick, Steve; Burgoyne, Keith; Byers, Robert A.; Hogan, Thom; Kyle, Jim; Letwin, Gordon; Petzold, Charles; Rabinowitz, Chip; Tomlin, Jim; Wilton, Richard; Wolverton, Van; Wong, William; Woodcock, JoAnne (Completely reworked ed.). Redmond, Washington, USA: Microsoft Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-55615-049-4. LCCN 87-21452. OCLC 16581341. (xix+1570 pages; 26 cm) (NB. This edition was published in 1988 after extensive rework of the withdrawn 1986 first edition by a different team of authors. [3] While mostly based on DOS 3.2, this book has an appendix covering changes introduced with DOS 3.3.) <a href="978-1-55615-049-4" target="_blank">978-1-55615-049-4</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"86-DOS version 0.3 (1980-11-15) License Agreement between Seattle Computer Products and Microsoft" (PDF). 1981-01-06. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2013-04-01. (NB. Published as part of the Comes v. Microsoft case as exhibit #1.) <a href="http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/0000/PX00001.pdf" target="_blank">http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/0000/PX00001.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Paterson, Tim (June 1983). "An Inside Look at MS-DOS - The design decisions behind the popular operating system". BYTE. 16-Bit Designs. Vol. 8, no. 6. pp. 230. ISSN 0360-5280. Retrieved 2013-10-19. (NB. The article uses "MS-DOS" throughout to refer to both 86-DOS and MS-DOS, but mentions QDOS and 86-DOS in a sidebar article, "A Short History of MS-DOS".) [4][5] <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Paterson, Tim (1994-10-03). "From the Mailbox: The Origins of DOS" (PDF). Microprocessor Report. Vol. 8, no. 13. MicroDesign Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-12-04. Retrieved 2006-11-20. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Evans, Harold; Buckland, Gail; Lefer, David (2004). They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-27766-2. [6][7] <a href="978-0-316-27766-2" target="_blank">978-0-316-27766-2</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>The Associated Press (2005-03-02). Seattle Post-Intelligencer (ed.). "Programmer sues author over role in Microsoft history". USA Today. Seattle, Washington, USA. Archived from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2006-11-20. <a href="/wiki/The_Associated_Press" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Associated_Press</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (2007-07-25) [2005-02-28]. "Paterson v. Little, Brown, and Co., et al. - Order" (PDF). Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington, USA. Case 2:05-cv-01719-TSZ Document 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2014-12-21. <a href="/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Western_District_of_Washington" target="_blank">/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Western_District_of_Washington</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Orlowski, Andrew (2007-07-30). "MS-DOS paternity suit settled - Computer pioneer Kildall vindicated, from beyond the grave". The Register. The Channel. Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2007-07-31. <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/30/msdos_paternity_suit_resolved/" target="_blank">https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/30/msdos_paternity_suit_resolved/</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Schulman, Andrew; Michels, Raymond J.; Kyle, Jim; Paterson, Tim; Maxey, David; Brown, Ralf D. (1990). Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-57064-9. ark:/13960/t14n8vs6f. Retrieved 2022-11-26. (xviii+694+viii pages, 2 5.25"-floppies) Errata: [1][2] <a href="978-0-201-57064-9" target="_blank">978-0-201-57064-9</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Paterson, Tim (2014-02-17). "The History of MSX-DOS". Jorito, Maggoo, John Hassink, MSX Resource Center. Archived from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2014-05-31. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Lach, Eric (1986-09-29). "Microsoft buys major assets of Falcon, reclaims royalty-free MS-DOS license". InfoWorld - The PC News Weekly. Vol. 8, no. 39. Redmond, Washington, USA: Popular Computing, Inc., CW Communications, Inc. p. 27. ISSN 0199-6649. Retrieved 2014-08-13. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=pzwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=pzwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Schulman, Andrew; Michels, Raymond J.; Kyle, Jim; Paterson, Tim; Maxey, David; Brown, Ralf D. (1990). Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-57064-9. ark:/13960/t14n8vs6f. Retrieved 2022-11-26. (xviii+694+viii pages, 2 5.25"-floppies) Errata: [1][2] <a href="978-0-201-57064-9" target="_blank">978-0-201-57064-9</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Schulman, Andrew; Michels, Raymond J.; Kyle, Jim; Paterson, Tim; Maxey, David; Brown, Ralf D. (1990). Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-57064-9. ark:/13960/t14n8vs6f. Retrieved 2022-11-26. (xviii+694+viii pages, 2 5.25"-floppies) Errata: [1][2] <a href="978-0-201-57064-9" target="_blank">978-0-201-57064-9</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Schulman, Andrew; Michels, Raymond J.; Kyle, Jim; Paterson, Tim; Maxey, David; Brown, Ralf D. (1990). Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-57064-9. ark:/13960/t14n8vs6f. Retrieved 2022-11-26. (xviii+694+viii pages, 2 5.25"-floppies) Errata: [1][2] <a href="978-0-201-57064-9" target="_blank">978-0-201-57064-9</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>