Correction: The Kaypro 10 computer was equipped with 64K of memory (not 16), the maximum amount the CP/M operating system could address. CP/M was quickly supplanted as the favored operating system for personal computers by MS-DOS, because DOS could access as much as 640K.
April 15th, 2005 at 10:13 PM
There actually was a version of CP/M which could address a full megabyte, and actually took advantage of the segmented memory structure of the 8086 chip. IBM was interested in buying it, but the contract specified that IBM had the right to reject the operating system, and could come up with their own, where Digital Research had no right to sue over any similarities.
Bill Gates, having purchased a buggy operating system for 8086’s, was more than happy to take the deal.
Someday, I’ll have to tell the story of why we have Windows instead of DESQView…