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Seattle Computer Products (SCP) was a Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the most populous city in the US state of Washington and the Northwestern United States. The encompassing Seattle metropolitan area is the 15th largest in the United States, and the largest in the Pacific Northwest....
 computer hardware company which was one of the first manufacturers of computer systems based on the Intel 8086
Intel 8086

The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel and introduced on the market in 1978, which gave rise to the x86 architecture. Intel 8088, released in 1979, was essentially the same chip, but with an external 8-bit bus , and is notable as the processor used in the original IBM PC....
 processor
Central processing unit

A central processing unit is an electronic circuit that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage....
. It was staffed partly by high school students from nearby communities who soldered and assembled the computers. Some of them would later work for Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
.

Twenty-two year old Tim Paterson
Tim Paterson

Tim Paterson is an United States computer programmer, best known as the original author of MS-DOS, the most widely used operating system in the 1980s....
 was hired in June 1978 by SCP's owner Rod Brock. In 1980 Paterson wrote the 86-DOS operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
, also known as QDOS, over a four month period.






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Seattle Computer Products (SCP) was a Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the most populous city in the US state of Washington and the Northwestern United States. The encompassing Seattle metropolitan area is the 15th largest in the United States, and the largest in the Pacific Northwest....
 computer hardware company which was one of the first manufacturers of computer systems based on the Intel 8086
Intel 8086

The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel and introduced on the market in 1978, which gave rise to the x86 architecture. Intel 8088, released in 1979, was essentially the same chip, but with an external 8-bit bus , and is notable as the processor used in the original IBM PC....
 processor
Central processing unit

A central processing unit is an electronic circuit that can execute computer programs. This broad definition can easily be applied to many early computers that existed long before the term "CPU" ever came into widespread usage....
. It was staffed partly by high school students from nearby communities who soldered and assembled the computers. Some of them would later work for Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
.

Twenty-two year old Tim Paterson
Tim Paterson

Tim Paterson is an United States computer programmer, best known as the original author of MS-DOS, the most widely used operating system in the 1980s....
 was hired in June 1978 by SCP's owner Rod Brock. In 1980 Paterson wrote the 86-DOS operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
, also known as QDOS, over a four month period. Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
, seeking an operating system for the IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
 Personal Computer, bought the rights to market the system to other manufacturers for $25,000 in December 1980. Prior to the PC launch Microsoft bought the full rights to the system for an additional $50,000. Realizing that Microsoft was making significant profit on the DOS operating system, SCP attempted to sell the operating system along with a stand-alone inexpensive CPU (without any other circuitry), which was allowed per the marketing agreement with Microsoft in order to allow SCP to continue selling the operating system with their 8086-based computers; this operating system was marketed as "Seattle DOS", and the CPU was included in the box. SCP later accused Microsoft of defrauding
Fraud

In the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction....
 it by not revealing that IBM was a customer (although this appears to have been Microsoft's right under the marketing agreement), and Microsoft settled the claim in 1986 by paying an additional $1 million.

SCP is no longer in business as the market for Intel 8086 systems became dominated by PC compatible computers.

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Rodbrockcard
Seattle Computer Product's address was 1114 Industry Dr. Seattle WA 98188, as shown on Rod Brock's business card, with title of "President / General Manager".

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