Gary Kildall

IBM dealings IBM approached Digital Research in 1980, at Bill Gates' suggestion, Novell acquired DRI in 1991 in a deal that netted millions for Kildall.

Computer Connections In 1992, Kildall was invited to the University of Washington computer science program's 25th anniversary event. As a distinguished graduate of the program, Kildall was disappointed when asked to attend simply as an audience member. He also took offense at the decision to have the main speech done by Bill Gates, a Harvard University dropout who had donated to UW, but had never attended. because its first 26 system calls worked the same as CP/M's.

Initial news reports and police investigation considered Kildall's death as a possible homicide. According to the coroner's report, Kildall's fatal injury may have occurred "as a result of foul play," and the case was referred to the Monterey Police Department. "We're going to investigate it as a possible homicide," said police Sgt. Frank Sollecito. "I'm not going to flat-out say it's a homicide".

In March 1995, Kildall was honored posthumously by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) for his contributions to the microcomputer industry: