Re:This is shamefulThis is shameful (Score 2, Interesting)

The story I heard is that Commodore paid a one-time fee to use Microsoft Basic (Version 2.0) essentially forever with no further payments to Microsoft. This was very early in the development of the industry and Bill got what he thought was big bucks for the transaction. Turns out that Commodore got a huge bargain compared to what Microsoft was later able to charge everybody else (on a per computer sold basis). That was a hunk of the reason computers like the Vic-20 and the Commodore 64 could be considerably cheaper than other computers of the era. Unfortunately it also made it difficult for Commodore to come up with improved versions of Basic without giving up that cost advantage. Bottom line: Jack Tramiel (then head of Commodore) was one of the few people in the computer industry to outsnooker Bill Gates on a business deal, and Vic-20/Commodore 64 owners used Microsoft Basic while contributing essentially nothing to the Microsoft empire.