Control Program for Microcomputers
<operating system> (CP/M) An early
microcomputer operating system written by Gary Kildall of
Digital Research for
8080 and
Zilog Z80-based 8-bit computers.
CP/M was very popular in the late 1970s but was virtually wiped out by
MS-DOS after the release of the
IBM PC in 1981.
Many of CP/M's features and conventions strongly resemble those of early
DEC operating systems such as
TOPS-10, OS/8, RSTS and RSX-11.
CP/M might have been the
OS for the
IBM PC instead of
MS-DOS but Kildall wanted to keep control of his creation and only license it to IBM.
Big Blue however wanted to own and control it completely.
Kildall spent the day IBM's reps wanted to meet him enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private plane.
[Did CP/M use the same
FAT file system as MS-DOS?]