>> His mother didn't make the deal with IBM (in fact Ballmer was arguably most instrumental in the nuanced legal structure that gave Microsoft its position)
Just for the sake of discussion: if his mother and her relation to the IBM top executive had a critical part in IBM's biggest business mistake ever - doesn't it make sense that they won't want to share those details ?
The story that I've read was that IBM had the hardware but didn't think they could make software on time so they went shopping for the OS. First they went to Digital Research who didn't want to do it. Microsoft jumped in and promised to deliver what would become MS-DOS. The rest is history.
In no way was Gate's mother instrumental in the process.
"In 1980, she discussed with then-IBM Corp. Chairman John Opel, who was also on the United Way committee, the business IBM was doing with Microsoft. Opel, some accounts say, knew little about the venture, but mentioned Mary Gates to IBM executives who introduced Microsoft at a meeting of IBM's top-level management committee a few weeks later."
hershel is not claiming Gates mother was involved. He is playing devils advocate and pointing out that there are reasons why neither IBM's CEO at the time or Gates mother might want it known if she pulled strings: IBM ended up getting the short end of the stick; it would not look good for either one of them (or Bill Gates for that matter).
That does not mean she interfered. It's just a reminder that we should be careful about blindly accepting published accounts of events where the full details are only known by a small number of people all with their own agendas. This of course applies to everything.
Just for the sake of discussion: if his mother and her relation to the IBM top executive had a critical part in IBM's biggest business mistake ever - doesn't it make sense that they won't want to share those details ?