The real cause of the conflict between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

Making Microsoft the first and the largest third-party applications for the Macintosh, Jobs immediately began to fear copying Macintosh ideas. Microsoft has agreed to Steve conditions that prohibit any program or interface, use the mouse. Restriction should have lasted a year after the release of the first Mac.

Microsoft chief system programmer for the Macintosh platform was Neil Conze. He joined the company as a high school student. Already at that time, Neil has been developing software for the Apple II.

Conze very fond of Apple, and it is not surprising that the company Bill Gates became the main part of the Macintosh. He was responsible for the integration of Microsoft code that was actually a copy of the Xerox, in the Macintosh operating system RAM memory management code. Neil quickly became an expert in the business.

In mid-1983, Microsoft was still far from working prototypes of tables and graphics editor. They never advertise their work on our MacWrite competitor, but we guess that a similar application to work with the text developed at Microsoft.

A couple of times a week, Neil talked with Apple programmers on the phone. Sometimes he would ask for him to realize any function or ask about the details of the work of this or that element. Gradually, it became apparent that Conze increasingly asking questions about what he know necessarily. Jobs became aware of the curiosity Neil, but he showed no signs of emotion. Steve thought that Microsoft is not able to do something worthwhile, even rewriting the entire code for the Mac.

At Comdex computer trade show in November 1983, Microsoft has made an unexpected statement. They announced a new, based on the management of the mouse, graphical environment. The new product is called Windows. It was also announced a special mouse designed to work in Microsoft Word. Upon learning of Windows, Steve Jobs has just exploded with rage:

"Immediately Bill Gates to me! He should explain it all! I want to see it tomorrow in this Chamber this afternoon! "

The next day, Gates appear at the appointed time and was alone, surrounded by ten Apple employees. Having sustained a pause, Steve began to shout loudly to Bill: "I trusted you, and you stole from us!"

Gates replied calmly and quietly:

"Steve, it turned out that we got into the house of a rich neighbor named Xerox. I rushed to him to steal a TV set and found out that you have stolen it. "

It turned out that the agreement implies a ban on the release of products controlled by the mouse, ceased operations in September 1983. Signed in 1981 a document meant output of the first Mac a year, so Microsoft had every right to release any products. Jobs was furious but could not do anything.

But, as predicted by Steve, the Microsoft failed to create something cool. After the release of Windows 1.0 in late 1985, people dislike the Microsoft offspring was so strong, Gates had to dismiss the entire development team and start writing a new version from the ground up with new people. At the head of a renewed team was none other than Neil Conze.

The next version of the Windows, released a couple of years later, Apple has given grounds to sue for copyright infringement. But in the end, Jobs and his company lost the case because Microsoft accidentally received in November 1985, perpetual license to use Mac interface.

via Folklore.org