CP/M Creator Gary Kildall's Memoirs Released as Free Download
31 comments
·July 18, 2025pavlov
gertlex
I just happen to have been reading this past week, the Digital Antiquarian's IBM PC release overview (4 parts). This covers comparing Gates and Kildall (and includes e.g. the uncertainty of what actually happened with that "flying instead of meeting with IBM")
Here's the url to part 2 of that 4-parter, where Gary gets mentioned (also covered in parts 3 and 4): https://www.filfre.net/2012/05/the-ibm-pc-part-2/
skibz
I wish Gary was one of the people that the average joe associated with "people who are known for doing computer things", instead of only people such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
His accomplishments cannot be overstated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kildall#Recognition
hackmack10
The kids should not be removing some of their Dad's work. His struggles with alcoholism are well defined in the public and him describing his struggles could help another facing similar problems.
heymijo
Let me give the now defunct Internet History Podcast a shout out. Episode 100 - The Man Who Could Have Been Bill Gates? The Gary Kildall Story
A story with intrigue that chronicles the why and how Microsoft ended up extracting the most value from the PC revolution instead of the hardware makers and of course, why that was DOS instead of CP/M.
I liked the oral history nature of this podcast, walking me through things that preceded me in technology, and then things that I lived through like the 90's internet.
https://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2016/03/the-man-who-c...
profsummergig
Kildall may have also invented ghosting.
I remember watching a documentary. IBM officials showed up at Kildall's house twice to convince him to sell/license CP/M to them. Pre-planned meetings. He ghosted them both times. One of those times they waited hours for him.
POSSIBLE_FACT
Absolutely loved when I randomly caught an episode of Computer Chronicles back in the old time days.
rbanffy
I think that, by now, I have watched every episode. He was the Bill Gates we needed.
whobre
He was nothing like BG. Gary was an inventor, educator and most of all a visionary. He hated running a business, even though he started DRI after failing to convince Intel to buy CP/M.
Yes, there are quite a few videos on YouTube about him, named “The man who should have been Bill Gates” but that’s just click baiting. Watch the special episode of “The Computer Chronicles” about Gary Kildall and see what his friends and business associates say about him.
BruceEel
While we are here, another important article by Kildall has been made available online, "Global Expression Optimization During Compilation"-1972 [1] - while the field has obviously moved on, this is still interesting and relevant IMO, if anything it shows what a talented technical writer he was.
[1]: https://www.proquest.com/docview/302615627/?fromunauthdoc=tr...
wonger_
S12E45, Gary Kildall special: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=doOQnc0A3Ek&list=PLmM8tWTshxQB...
terabyterex
This paints Bill Gates as not a tech person and a business first person, which is not true. He got a BASIC compiler on the altair which MITS thought couldn't be done. He helped Wozniak implement a version of BASIC supporting floating point numbers. Gates didn't even want to take Microsoft public. They had to convince him. Ballmer was the biggest businessman in the bunch. Hell, he was the one that suggested kidall since Microsoft wasn't in the OS business.
agumonkey
Kinda saddens me that society usually aligns with marketing and business mindset (impressing, selling, profiting) instead of people like Kildall. There are many passionated, driven, creative, prolific people with intrisic motivations that are wasted due to commercial forces.
FuriouslyAdrift
Just like Jobs. He was the marketing and sales guy. Woz, et al. were the visionaries and engineers cranking out the product.
rbanffy
> He was nothing like BG.
This is exactly my point.
> He hated running a business, even though he started DRI after failing to convince Intel to buy CP/M
This is what uniquely qualified him to bring about a nicer timeline.
Sadly, we got the second rate one...
wslh
I recommend reading "Idea Man" [1] by Paul Allen, Microsoft's cofounder, to understand the deep and early involvement he and Bill Gates had with computers.
I also recommend Hard Drive (1992) [2] for a deeper look into the business side of Bill Gates.
Regardless of any negative opinions about him, I believe Bill Gates was/is in a league of his own.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_Man
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp...
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BruceEel
truth. Too bad we got the other one!!!
garganzol
I read the first part back in 2016 when it was released (spoiler: it was worth it). Still waiting for the rest to come, but it seems that the Gary's Kildall memoirs project is not being pursued.
whobre
Apparently, Gary’s children agreed for the entire book to be released in 50 years from the partial release. So, only 41 years now…
Upvoter33
I'm curious about the part they omitted. I wonder why? But of course, it's their business and I'm happy they shared this.
lioeters
> You can download it here. https://www.computerhistory.org/_static/atchm/in-his-own-wor...
..which leads to a page, with this link at the bottom.
> Download the Kildall Manuscript [2.31MB] https://computerhistory.org/blog/computer-history-museum-lic...
Findecanor
(2016) I found that I had already downloaded it a year ago but never read it.
Rochus
(2016)
"“Our father, Gary Kildall, was one of the founders of the personal computer industry, but you probably don’t know his name. Those who have heard of him may recall the myth that he ‘missed’ the opportunity to become Bill Gates by going flying instead of meeting with IBM. Unfortunately, this tall tale paints Gary as a ‘could-have-been,’ ignores his deep contributions, and overshadows his role as an inventor of key technologies that define how computer platforms run today.
"Gary viewed computers as learning tools rather than profit engines. His career choices reflect a different definition of success, where innovation means sharing ideas, letting passion drive your work and making source code available for others to build upon. His work ethic during the 1970s resembles that of the open-source community today.
"With this perspective, we offer a portion of our father’s unpublished memoirs so that you can read about his experiences and reflections on the early days of the computer industry, directly in his own voice."
Sounds really interesting. Thanks for making this available!