Dorothy McEwen, Former Wife Of Gary Kildall, 61

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It was reported from Carmel Valley, California, that Dorothy McEwen,
former wife of software pioneer Gary Kildall who missed the chance to
supply IBM with the operating system for its first personal computer,
died Monday, January 31, 2004, at the age of 61.

McEwen died at home after a long struggle with brain cancer, said
Lynette Balestri, the estate manager for McEwen's Holman Ranch.

The story of how Kildall's Digital Research Inc. lost IBM's business at
the birth of the PC industry is a Silicon Valley legend.

Kildall had started work on what would be the first commercial
operating system, called CP/M, in the 1970s. He and his wife co-founded
Digital Research to sell the software that ran early PCs like the
Altair 8800.

In 1980, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was in talks with IBM but his
fledgling company did not have an operating system to offer them. He
referred IBM to Digital Research.

When IBM officials went to talk with Kildall, they were met by McEwen.

She didn't feel comfortable signing IBM's nondisclosure agreement and
stalled until Digital Research's lawyer could review it. Kildall,
McEwen and the lawyer met with the IBM representatives later in the
afternoon but could not agree on a price.

In the end, IBM returned to Microsoft, which quickly purchased another
operating system company. The acquired company's program became the
basis for MS-DOS.

McEwen and Kildall separated in 1983 and later divorced. Kildall died
in 1994 after falling outside a Monterey restaurant.

AP