Bill Gates tried to pay Andy Hertzfeld $40,000 for the Macintosh app switcher
Don't argue with me. $100k is fair, and you know it
In 1984, Andy Hertzfeld demoed Thunderscan to Byte and saw a DOS utility called Memory Shift. He realized he could build an app switcher for the 512K Macintosh. Microsoft, worried about Lotus Jazz, flew him to Seattle. Bill Gates flattered him, estimated 10,000 lines of code at 1,000 lines a week, and offered $40,000. Hertzfeld refused, wanting to build it independently and bundle it with every Mac.
I don't think it could be more than 10,000 lines of code, and a really good programmer like you should be able to write at least a thousand lines of code per week, so I think it will take you less than 10 weeks to write it, if you're as good as I think you are.
- gwern
For perspective, that's >$320k today. For 'switching apps'. It's always kinda crazy to look back and realize how incredibly minute and small programs were back them. Like 'spellcheck' being a project you'd assign half a dozen programmers to or Knuth would write almost a book about.
- PStamatiou
Here's a video of it working if you're curious: https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/x9iq6j/macint...
- saagarjha
I'm actually kind of surprised that Apple didn't just automatically own the rights to the program. I guess times were different back then.
- com2kid
Reading these types of of stories growing up was always humbling.
I started at Microsoft on the Windows Mobile compiler team, having never taken a compiler class in college. I was surrounded by people who had already done great things, and by the time my career started the glory days of doing real software engineering was already waning.
I got to work with a few of the greats during my time as Microsoft, and I wish I'd taken up an in offer I had to meet Raymond Chen.
Sitting next to people of old school caliber and watching them work is, to use the proper word yet again, humbling as hell.
Fuck your design patterns. These people can debug starting at assembly, and sometimes when that fails they'll debug by pulling out an oscilloscope. Then when that is done they'll build design patterns on top of the foundations they laid themselves.
- bix6
Who did they sell to for the $50k royalty?