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Name some others that IBM contacted, then.

Anyone who has a commodity that you need and can't obtain elsewhere is negotiating from a position of power. I'm surprised that you can't admit this simple truth.

The commodity was obtainable from other sources, so that point is moot.

Let's see the data.

I had a link with some informal benchmarks, but I can't find it now. As you may know, OS 9's virtual memory management was absolutely horrible. Classic mode (OS 9 under OS X) disables OS 9's virtual memory management and makes OS 9 see essentially unlimited physical memory, which unknown to OS 9 will be a combination of physical memory and OS X's highly efficient virtual memory system. Thus, any applications in situations that would normally cause OS 9 to use virutal memory will have higher performance under Classic than under straight OS 9.

OS X usability has to be experienced.

They're good at blowing things up, but these guys aren't known for their intelligence.

Shall I give your address to my Special Forces friends, especially the one who also happens to be an excellent DBA?

They contacted only those two. Bill said he could get them an OS, and he did. IBM could have just as easily bought QDOS themselves if they'd been bothered to look around, but they didn't think the OS was important.

Nope. Nice try, but you're wrong. The fact of the matter is that IBM didn't know who to get an 8088 operating system from. That's why it went to Gates. QDOS was the same pile of code that Bill bought from Seattle Computer Products and turned into MS-DOS. There's no evidence that IBM even know it existed, since SCP was a tiny, insignificant company located in Bellevue, near Microsoft.

The commodity was obtainable from other sources, so that point is moot.

The only ones that you can cite are CP/M and the one provided by Gates. As I showed earlier, Kildall didn't want to do a CP/M port to 8088. So Gate's code was the only OS available. You said there were others. Name them.

I had a link with some informal benchmarks, but I can't find it now.

Of course you can't -- because it's a fantasy.

OS X usability has to be experienced.

I have. OS X has ripped-off numerous UI elements from Windows (Start menu, Quick Launch, System Tray, Task Bar, etc).

Shall I give your address to my Special Forces friends, especially the one who also happens to be an excellent DBA?

Be my guest. I've been in the military. I know what I'm talking about. A great number of those guys (like their counterparts in the private sector) are mind-numbed bureaucrats with absolutely zero clue about what they're buying -- and with very little accountability with taxpayer money. They spend it like it's water.