[conkeisterdoor]

It looks like "brain damaged" was the developer's go-to insult when frustrated :D

2024-04-25 19:35 ~/sort/dl/MS-DOS % grep -nri 'brain[ -]damage' .

./v4.0/src/DOS/STRIN.ASM:70:; Brain-damaged TP ignored ^F in case his BIOS did not flush the

./v4.0/src/DOS/PATH.ASM:24:; MZ 19 Jan 1983 Brain damaged applications rely on success

./v4.0/src/DOS/FCBIO.ASM:28:; MZ 15 Dec 1983 Brain damaged programs close FCBs multiple

./v4.0/src/DOS/FCBIO2.ASM:28:; MZ 15 Dec 1983 Brain damaged programs close FCBs multiple

./v4.0/src/BIOS/MSBIO1.ASM:82:; REV 2.15 7/13/83 ARR BECAUSE IBM IS FUNDAMENTALY BRAIN DAMAGED, AND

./v4.0/src/CMD/PRINT/PRINT_R.ASM:1772: ; See if brain damaged user entered

[ssklash]

Super cool to see MZ initials, which are for Mark Zbikowski. They are still to this day at the beginning of every Windows executable/PE file.

[accrual]

> Super cool to see MZ initials, which are for Mark Zbikowski. They are still to this day at the beginning of every Windows executable/PE file.

Another is "PK" as found in the header of ordinary .zip files, after its creator Phil Katz (RIP).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Katz

[ktm5j]

Looks like this is him?

https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/commit/2d04cacc5322951f1... https://github.com/mzbik

[agumonkey]

I can't recall where exactly but there's something similar in systemd, some files have LPKS... in them, which are most probably poettering, sievers and others early devs initials.

[aquir]

What? Is this what MZ means? Fascinating!

[stubborngoat]

"He was the designer of the MS-DOS executable file format, and the headers of that file format start with his initials: the ASCII characters 'MZ' (0x4D, 0x5A)" Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zbikowski

[thrdbndndn]

> In 2006, he was honored for 25 years of service with the company, the third employee to reach this milestone, after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. He retired the same year from Microsoft

Considering he "only" joined MS in 1981 (which was found in 1975?), I'm surprised no more people between him and Bill stayed at MS.

Also shouldn't Paul Allen still count (from Wikipedia, "Allen resigned from his position on the Microsoft board of directors on November 9, 2000, but he remained as a senior strategy advisor to the company's executives.")?

Edit: wow, never knew he worked at Valve, too.

[hnthrowaway0328]

Early Microsoft seemed to be a pretty hardcore environment. I guess many employees came and got burned out in a few years.

[knute]

And/or they cashed out $TEXAS in stock and rode off into the sunset.

[cdchn]

I think a lot of people left Microsoft to start/join Valve, foremost of which Gabe Newell himself.

[HeckFeck]

> ./v4.0/src/BIOS/MSBIO1.ASM:82:; REV 2.15 7/13/83 ARR BECAUSE IBM IS FUNDAMENTALY BRAIN DAMAGED, AND

Hardly surprising. If you grep the leaked NT3.5 sources for the f-word, you will find similar comments directed towards IBM.

[sebtron]

Looks as if someone did an s/retarded/brain damaged/g before making the code public :)

[Uvix]

That was my first thought, but that wouldn’t explain the hyphenated versions in there.

[cdchn]

TP was apparently someones name before they force-pushed to change it too.

[blobbers]

Let's bring back those DOS 4.0 period sayings.

Does this mean if you happen to be talking to BillG you could talk about brain damaged programs and he'd nod appreciatively?

[mormegil]

Oh, you mean like it's some period saying? I'm using it normally. But then again, it's not like I'm keeping my finger on the pulse of the current trends...

See also http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/brain-damaged.html

[asveikau]

Somehow seeing the phrases "brain damaged" and "DOS 4.0 period" makes me think...

Bill Cosby's "Brain Damage" bit, from the album "Himself": 1982

DOS 4.0: 1988

Those comments also could have also sat in the tree for a few years.

[glhaynes]

It was BillG who famously called the 286 "brain damaged" after all.

EDIT: Upon doing a web search, actually it looks like it was "brain dead".

[wglb]

He went the only one. Most of us did.

[dhosek]

I kept reading those as “Brian damaged” and thinking man, MZ really hated Brian.