I never claimed he was a notable programmer, just that I still think "nerd" isn't an unreasonable descriptor. It still takes knowledge to identify when something is undervalued and then to be able to find a market for it unless you're suggesting that even from the beginning he wasn't even the one deciding what to buy and sell which while possible is a claim I have never heard made before.
Let's just boil this down to a simple set of questions, what portion of the general populace of 1980 would understand the potential implications of a successful disk based operating system? What portion of that grouping would you consider to be "nerds"? My estimate would be nearly 100% baring those who have had it directly explained to them in the simplest terms possible.
The core of our disagreement is really just where the line for "nerd" is drawn, you seem to define it as being capable of making innovations in the tech industry with personal involvement, where as I'm drawing my line closer to the side of
"knows what a disc and an operating system are in 1980"
DOS was originally purchased as QDOS from Seattle Computer Products. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86-DOS
Microsoft have basically never created anything, only purchased stuff from others, and bill gates doesn't know what a line of code looks like.
Let's just boil this down to a simple set of questions, what portion of the general populace of 1980 would understand the potential implications of a successful disk based operating system? What portion of that grouping would you consider to be "nerds"? My estimate would be nearly 100% baring those who have had it directly explained to them in the simplest terms possible.
The core of our disagreement is really just where the line for "nerd" is drawn, you seem to define it as being capable of making innovations in the tech industry with personal involvement, where as I'm drawing my line closer to the side of
"knows what a disc and an operating system are in 1980"