Company history, part 1: 1975-1976

This is the first part of the translation of a series of articles from channel9.msdn.com telling about the history of Microsoft. I think many will find a lot of new and interesting things for themselves. If you didn’t know that Microsoft made its first million long before the advent of DOS, if you didn’t know that Microsoft was releasing an UNIX-based operating system, then this cycle is for you.

Thirty-four years ago, a nineteen-year-old boy and his twenty-two-year-old friend and business partner sold their first program to a small company located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The program was called BASIC and it was the start of a company that we know as Microsoft.

1975

January 1, 1975

On the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics computer image appears MITS Altair 8800 . An article in the magazine inspires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to develop the BASIC language for Altair.

February 1, 1975

Bill Gates and Paul Allen finish Altair BASIC and sell it to Microsoft’s first MITS Microsoft client from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the first implementation of a programming language for a personal computer.

March 1, 1975

Paul Allen becomes MITS Software Director.
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April 7, 1975

The description attached to MITS Computer starts with the “Altair BASIC - Up and Running” section.

July 1, 1975

BASIC v2.0 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen officially sold in two editions: for 4Kb of memory and for 8Kb of memory.

July 22, 1975

Paul Allen and Bill Gates sign a licensing agreement with MITS regarding the Basic interpreter. The name Microsoft has not yet been selected and the agreement has not been concluded with Microsoft yet.

July 29, 1975

In a letter to Paul Allen, Bill Gates uses the name “Micro-soft” to denote their partnership. This is the earliest known mention of the name.

December 31, 1975

Sales for 1975 are equivalent to $ 16,000, as described in Form 1065 US Partnership Return of Income.

1976

February 3, 1976

Bill Gates, the first programmer in history who raises the issue of software piracy. In the open letter “An Open Letter to Hobbyists”, which was attached to the description of the computer, Gates reproached the enthusiasts who steal software for inhibiting the writing of good programs in this way.

March 27, 1976

Bill Gates makes his opening remarks at the First World Convention of the First Annual World Altair Computer Convention, which was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

April 1976

The first official employee of the company becomes Marc McDonald (Marc McDonald). Other people have previously worked on Microsoft products, but on a contract basis.

July 1976

The company's first advertisement appears in Digital Design magazine .

November 1, 1976

Paul Allen leaves MITS to become part of Microsoft.

November 26, 1976

The Microsoft trademark is registered in the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.

September 1, 1976

Microsoft rents space for the official office at Two Park Central Tower Building at 300 San Mateo Blvd, NE, Suite 819, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Number of employees and profit for 1976

In the calendar year 1976, the number of Microsoft employees reached six people. Revenues amounted to $ 22,496.

Other events of 1976

• Shugart introduced a 5.25-inch magnetic disk drive for $ 390, the first for microcomputers;
• Three new magazines have been launched: Byte , Computer Graphics and Art and Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia;
• The United States celebrates the bicentenary of independence;
• the Viking spacecraft landed on Mars and sent detailed photographs of the rocky and deserted surface of the planet.

The article is based on the translation of the following articles on channel9.msdn.com:

• The History Of Microsoft 1975 http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/History/The-History-of-Microsoft-1975/
• The History Of Microsoft 1976 http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/History/The-History-of-Microsoft-1976/

In addition to the text, on these sites you can watch videos with materials relating to the topic.

To be continued.