Re: Computing Editorial (please read)

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <3E2C7D44.84B41CF2@ev1.net>,
Charles Richmond  <richmond@ev1.net> wrote:
 
>> The computer world would be better off without the contributions of
>> Bill Gates and Microsoft except one:  I think Microsoft BASIC, and
>> Applesoft BASIC in particular, are incredibly valuable to the
>> development of the modern computer, because it was the hobbyists
>> with their BASIC programming skills who came up with the "killer apps"
>> that were later redone and turned into the packages that everybody
>> uses today.  Opening up programming to "the masses" was, I think,
>> critical to computer acceptance.
> 
> That is assuming that some other person would *not* have come
> up with a microcomputer BASIC. Personally, I think that someone
> else would have developed a BASIC if Gates and company had *not*...
 
"Would"?  Someone else DID!!!
 
The first Apple II's were delivered with the non-Microsoft Integer
Basic, written by Steve Wozniak.  The Integer Basic ROM's also
contained floating-point routines, and if Apple hadn't bought
Applesoft from Microsoft, then Wozniak would no doubt have expanded
his Integer Basic to also do floating-point.
 
There were also several other non-Microsoft microcomputer BASIC
interpreters, and even compilers.
 
-- 
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