Looking back: the history of Microsoft from 1975 to 1989.

1975

January 1st A cover photo of the MITS Altair 8800 appears on the cover of Popular Electronics, inspiring Paul Allen and Bill Gates to develop the BASIC language for Altair.

February 1 Bill Gates and Paul Allen sell BASIC, the first development language program for a personal computer, to the first Microsoft client, MITS.
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March 1 Paul Allen begins working as a program director at MITS.

April 7th . “Altair BASIC - normal flight” (“Altair BASIC ‑ Up and Running”) - read the headline of the first issue of “MITS Computer Notes”.

July 1st . The official sale of BASIC version 2.0 in 4K and 8K versions begins.

1976

February 3 Bill Gates was one of the first programmers to raise the issue of software piracy. In an “Open Letter to Hobbyists”, first published in the MITS Computer Notes, Gates accused these people of stealing software, saying that it hinders “writing good programs.” Involuntarily expressing a prophecy, he ended the letter with the words: “Nothing can please me more than the opportunity to hire ten programmers and flood the amateur market with good programs.”

March 27 Bill Gates makes an opening speech at the First Annual Meeting of the Altair Computer World, held in Albuquerque.

November 1st . Paul Allen leaves MITS and joins the Microsoft full-time team.

November 26th The Microsoft trademark is registered in the office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.

1977

February 3 Paul Allen and Bill Gates enter into a formal partnership agreement.

July 1st . FORTRAN-80, the second development language from Microsoft, is published.

1978

November 1st . Microsoft opens its first international sales office in Japan, named Microsoft ASCII.

December 31st . Microsoft's annual sales exceed $ 1 million.

1979

January 1st Microsoft Headquarters moves from Albuquerque to Bellevue, WA.

1980

June 11th . In Microsoft, Steve Ballmer begins to work.

1981

June 25th . Microsoft is reorganized into a privately owned corporation, with Bill Gates as president and chairman of the board and Paul Allen as executive vice president. Microsoft becomes Microsoft, Inc., a public company incorporated in the state of Washington.

August 12th IBM is launching its “Personal Computer” on the market, which uses Microsoft's 16-bit MS-DOS 1.0 operating system, along with Microsoft BASIC, Microsoft COBOL, Microsoft Pascal, and other Microsoft products.

1982

March 24th Microsoft UK Ltd. is registered. (United Kingdom).

June 28th . Microsoft is announcing a new corporate logo, new packaging and a full set of materials for technical support for dealers.

1983

February 18th Paul Allen leaves the post of executive vice president, but remains on the board of directors of the company.

May 2 Microsoft releases Microsoft Mouse.

September 29th Microsoft releases Word for MS-DOS 1.00

November 10th . Microsoft is opening plans for Microsoft Windows, an extension of the MS-DOS operating system, which will provide a graphical working environment. The first retail sale of Windows will begin only two years later, in November 1985.

1984

January 24th . Microsoft starts selling BASIC and Multiplan simultaneously with the introduction of the Macintosh, becoming the leader in software development for Apple computers.

July 11th . Microsoft Press publishes its first two books: "The Apple Macintosh Book" by Carey Liu and "Exploring the IBM PCjr Home Computer" by Peter Norton.

1985

August 12th Microsoft celebrates its 10th anniversary with sales of $ 140 million a year.

September 3 Microsoft chooses the Irish Republic as the first manufacturing center outside the United States to produce products sold on the European market.

November 20th . Microsoft is starting to retail Microsoft Windows.

1986

February 26th Microsoft moves to Redmond, Wash.

March 13 Microsoft shares begin to trade on the stock exchange at an initial price of $ 21 per share, rising to $ 28 by the end of the first day. As a result of the initial placement, Microsoft gets $ 61 million.

1987

April 2nd . Microsoft and IBM announce the release of OS / 2. It was the first product resulting from the “Joint Development Agreement” concluded between Microsoft and IBM in August 1985.

September 8th Microsoft starts selling Microsoft Bookshelf, the first application on the CD - a collection of the ten most popular and useful reference books on one CD.

1988

January 13th . Microsoft and Ashton-Tate announce the release of Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database for servers on local networks based on the relational database management system from Sybase.

1989

August 1 Microsoft releases Office, the first complete business application for Macintosh on CD.

November 13th Microsoft and IBM are expanding their development agreement by agreeing to work together on system software in the future 1990s. This includes improvements in MS-DOS, Microsoft OS / 2, and Microsoft's LAN software, compatible with 386 and 486 Intel processors.

December 27th . Microsoft announces that on June 30, 1990, John Shirley will step down as president and chief operating officer. Shirley, who has served in this position since August 1983, will continue to work in the company as a board member and consultant on strategic projects.

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