Although the world was familiar with computers by the mid-1970s, we owe their commercial exploitation to Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the founders of Microsoft. They make computers usable for everyone.
This vision already accompanies the young students when they go to school together. Gates and Allen were already interested in computers and programming back in the early 1970s. But how did the two manage to turn their vision into reality, found Microsoft and lead the company to success worldwide?
To understand this, let’s go back to the late 1960s. Back then there were bulky mainframe computers or small boxes with flashing lights and no monitor. These early calculators have nothing to do with computers as we know them today. Therefore, very few people are interested in it, just real computer nerds. At that time computers played no role for the common man.
First successes
Bill Gates and Paul Allen want to change that. Even after school, the two inventors work on their vision in their free time. Paul Allen was studying at Washington State University at the time. At the same time, his buddy Bill Gates began studying mathematics at the renowned Harvard University. During their studies, both founded their first company in 1972 with Traf-o-Data. The sole purpose of the company: The development of software for traffic counting.
This work takes a lot of time and requires a lot of commitment. That’s why Paul Allen first dropped out of college, and a short time later Bill Gates too. From now on both work as programmers. Bill Gates has been developing a programming language for the Altair 8800 computer for quite some time.
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A programming language makes Microsoft popular
In 1975 he made his breakthrough. The programming language Altair BASIC 2.0, which he developed, forms the raw material for the subsequent marketing of home computers. BASIC has long been known as a computer language. By the early 1980s almost all computer owners knew what BASIC was. The Commodore 64 – in short: C64 or affectionately called ‘bread box’ – made BASIC known worldwide.
Until then, however, a lot of development work is still necessary. Bill Gates and Paul Allen are now pushing this forward with great strides. In order to better market the Altair BASIC 2.0 programming language developed by Bill Gates, he and his friend Paul Allen founded the company Micro-Soft on April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico – initially written with a hyphen and a capital S. The name is made up of the words “microcomputers” and “Softgoods” together. Back then, microcomputer was the name for the first, smaller calculating machines.
Microsoft BASIC changes everything
As Microsoft, Bill Gates and Paul Allen conclude a license agreement with MITS – short for: Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems. MITS developed the Altair 8800. At that time, Microsoft provided MITS with two versions of their programming language: Altair BASIC 4K and Altair BASIC 8K. According to the contract, Microsoft will receive a one-time payment of $3,000. For each sold version of Altair BASIC 4K, there is $30, $35 for sale of Altair BASIC 8K and even $60 for the so-called Extended Version, namely BASIC with manual and the kit for the Altair 8800. Hard to imagine today: Back then, the computer still had to be meticulously soldered together at home.
This first license agreement with MITS gives the young company Microsoft the start-up capital to create much bigger things. Just a year later, in 1976, the company released an evolution of Altair BASIC called Microsoft BASIC. This programming language forms the basis for the already mentioned C64, but also for a then completely unknown computer company with a bitten apple as its brand logo. Apple also uses the Microsoft BASIC version as a basis for developing its own operating system.
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This is Microsoft today
Everything that comes after that is known:
- MS DOS,
- windows,
- Microsoft Office, with Word and Excel.
Microsoft, a company that initially only developed programming languages, has now become one of the most important software and computer companies in the world. With its products, Microsoft now makes annual sales of almost 170 billion US dollars.
Without Microsoft, without the vision and pioneering work of Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the massive proliferation of home computers would not have happened in this form. Ultimately, the two Microsoft founders also influenced the further technical development in the direction of smartphones.
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By the way: Paul Allen was not actively aware of the rapid development. He left Microsoft in 1983 due to illness. As a member of the supervisory board and strategic advisor, however, he remained loyal to the company for quite a while. Paul Allen passed away from cancer in 2018.
Bill Gates has since retired from operational business. In 2008, he took a back seat to the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charity he founded with his then-wife. Bill Gates still acts as a consultant to Microsoft today.