Never give individual credit when it is due, give credit to the whole and we ALL will feel a sense of "his" accomplishments.
Right?
Gosh, lucky him!
I had nothing to do with his accomplishments. However, I would say that:
A)The guy that IBM originally approached with the idea of creating an operating system for their new "micro computer" and who blew off the IBM execs, probably played a role.
B)Bill's mom, who sat on the board of United Way with Opal (sp?) then president of IBM who gave Bill a shot at coming up with an operating system for the micro, probably played a role.
C)The guy who had the core of DOS in Seattle, which Bill purchased for around $50,000 and then tweaked to work on the IBM micro probably played a role.
D)Bill's lawyer dad who came up with the BRILLIANT idea of getting a royalty for each DOS system sold rather than a flat out payment from IBM, probably played a role.
And for the record, I have never met a great man who didn't credit luck and the assistance of others for playing a role in his accomplishments.