1 - Correction: writing late, typo - BASIC should have been property of the US tax payers.
2 - It was still pretty novel back then, but "borrowing" computer time w/o paying for it is (and was) theft of services. Like sneaking into a movie theater without paying. It wasn't their hardware to use, it was a critical part of a commercial endeavor. They didn't have permission in advance to use it. They didn't murder someone, but they were a couple of spoilt brats who figured they could get rich by ripping people off. They ripped off SCP (next point) and they screwed over IBM & Digital Equipment Corp. with the OS/2 gaslighting & NT intellectual property theft (case settled out of court).
3 - Gates wired up the deal with IBM then "bought" 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products knowing very well it was going to be worth millions since people were waiting for IBM to release a PC at the time. SCP made less than a million dollars and had it drawn out in court (from that same article - "Microsoft paid SCP US$925,000 and reclaimed its license for DOS"). He saw an opportunity to play middle man and then shanked SCP.
2 - It was still pretty novel back then, but "borrowing" computer time w/o paying for it is (and was) theft of services. Like sneaking into a movie theater without paying. It wasn't their hardware to use, it was a critical part of a commercial endeavor. They didn't have permission in advance to use it. They didn't murder someone, but they were a couple of spoilt brats who figured they could get rich by ripping people off. They ripped off SCP (next point) and they screwed over IBM & Digital Equipment Corp. with the OS/2 gaslighting & NT intellectual property theft (case settled out of court).
3 - Gates wired up the deal with IBM then "bought" 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products knowing very well it was going to be worth millions since people were waiting for IBM to release a PC at the time. SCP made less than a million dollars and had it drawn out in court (from that same article - "Microsoft paid SCP US$925,000 and reclaimed its license for DOS"). He saw an opportunity to play middle man and then shanked SCP.