Depending on how you spin it, you could say it was stolen. You would be more correct if you said it was a missed opportunity by the fellow on the losing end. I think the one you're talking about is Gary Kildall, and there is a decent story about the whole DOS/IBM/CP-M soap opera
here.
I never understand these comments. What kind of funky hardware combinations do people have that make it so difficult to install a piece of software? I have installed MS OS'es more times than I care to remember, and I can't recall one time in which it didn't work immediately (after Windows 95, of course). That may be a manifestation of my selective memory, of course, but as far as I recall all my MS installations have been pretty straightforward. In fact, I have always had more difficulty getting linux to install than microsoft, if only because my components tend to be relatively new and there isn't adequate driver support for them. This is much better these days than it used to be, but there still seems to be a lag time for hardware linux drivers.
Once installed, linux tends to be more stable, although XP is leaps and bounds ahead of it's predecessors in that regard.
As for a Mac, it never has the software I want, or if it does there is only one company that makes it and it costs a thousand dollars. PC's have far more choice, and for me choice is good.