The "Cursed Thread" of 2018

[robkelk]

RIP John Wharton, another of the early home-computing pioneers.

Wharton was the architect of the machine-language instruction set of the Intel 8051 micro-controller, one of the most widely used (for a time, the most widely used) chip in history (PDF). In a 1999 profile, The New York Times described him as "a Zelig-like presence in Silicon Valley for more than two decades", detailing his skill at reverse engineering.

Wharton made a discovery in the document Gates had left behind. It was the technical reference for an Intel-compatible operating system developed and sold with a plug-in board. In July 1980, Gates' Microsoft bought the one-man outfit who sold it without revealing its purpose: the default operating system for the new IBM PC.

"I had to inform Mr Gates that the operating system he thought he had bought was a copy of CP/M. Not only were the first 36 functions identical, but also the parameter passing mechanism."