That being said, there are numerous rumors of MS-DOS containing actual
CP/M code. The same rumors usually say that the CP/M code was leaked
into MS-DOS after MS acquired rights to QDOS, as MS must have had access
to the CP/M source code in order to develop the SoftCard:
http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/computerhistory/ads/international/microso
ft/pics/percon8110. (I still have one, runs Vordstar and Mehlmerge)
In addition, when DRI threatened to sue MS and IBM, and I quote here:
"Microsoft and IBM subsequently managed to get DRI to drop its threat
of a lawsuit about MS-DOS by agreeing to offer CP/M-86 as an
alternative to IBM PC DOS and leave the choice to the customers. What
they didn't tell DRI was that they were going to charge $240 for DRI's
product but only $40 for Microsoft's."
[From http://www.joewein.de/dri.html]
Indeed, what I heard during a talk at AMW30, from someone who was
there, was that the day of the public release, Gary ran excitedly to
the computer store to find the products on the shelves, and was
*stunned* to see that they had 'honoured' that bargain by essentially
pricing CP/M out of the running.
The events of the past few weeks are only surprising in that they
were, to some, surprising.
Anne