Seattle Computer Products (SCP) was a Seattle, Washington computer hardware company which was one of the first manufacturers of computer systems based on the Intel 8086 processor.[1] It was staffed partly by high-school students from nearby communities who soldered and assembled the computers. Some of them would later work for Microsoft.
Twenty-two-year-old Tim Paterson was hired in June 1978 by SCP's owner Rod Brock. In 1980, Paterson wrote the 86-DOS operating system, also known as QDOS (for Quick and Dirty Operating System)[1] over a four-month period. Microsoft, seeking an operating system for the IBM Personal Computer, bought the rights to market the system to other manufacturers for $25,000 in December 1980. Prior to the PC launch, Microsoft bought the full rights to the system for an additional $50,000. Realizing that Microsoft was making significant profit on the DOS operating system, SCP attempted to sell the operating system along with a stand-alone inexpensive CPU (without any other circuitry), which was allowed as per the marketing agreement with Microsoft in order to allow SCP to continue selling the operating system with their 8086-based computers; this operating system was marketed as "Seattle DOS", and the CPU was included in the box. SCP later accused Microsoft of defrauding it by not revealing that IBM was a customer (although this appears to have been Microsoft's right under the marketing agreement), and Microsoft settled the claim in 1986 by paying an additional $1 million.
SCP is no longer in business as the market for Intel 8086 systems became dominated by PC compatible computers.
Logo
Seattle Computer Product's address was 1114 Industry Dr. Seattle WA 98188,
as shown here on Rod Brock's business card, with the title of "President / General Manager".
References
- ^ a b Tim Paterson interview from Micronews April 10, 1998
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