Micro Soft

Family and Early Childhood
On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.
First computing Experience
In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. However, Lakeside had drastically underestimated the allure this machine would have for a hand full of young students.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and anything else they could to learn about computing. Soon Gates and the others started running into problems with the faculty. Their homework was being turned in late (if at all), they were skipping classes to be in the computer room and worst of all, they had used up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. [Wallace, 1992, p. 24]
In the fall of 1968, Computer Center Corporation opened for business in Seattle. It was offering computing time at good rates, and one of the chief programmers working for the corporation had a child attending Lakeside. A deal was struck between Lakeside Prep School and the Computer Center Corporation that allowed the school to continue providing it's students with computer time. [Wallace, 1992, p. 27] Gates and his comrades immediately began exploring the contents of this new machine. It was not long before the young hackers started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of computer time they were using. They were caught and the Computer Center Corporation banned them from the system for several weeks.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen and, two other hackers from Lakeside formed the Lakeside Programmers Group in late 1968. They were determined to find a way to apply their computer skills in the real world. The first opportunity to do this was a direct result of their mischievous activity with the school's computer time. The Computer Center Corporation's business was beginning to suffer due to the systems weak security and the frequency that it crashed. Impressed with Gates and the other Lakeside computer addicts' previous assaults on their computer, the Computer Center Corporation decided to hire the students to find bugs and expose weaknesses in the computer system. In return for the Lakeside Programming Group's help, the Computer Center Corporation would give them unlimited computer time [Wallace, 1992, p. 27]. The boys could not refuse. Gates is quoted as saying "It was when we got free time at C-cubed (Computer Center Corporation) that we really got into computers. I mean, then I became hardcore. It was day and night" [Wallace, 1992, p. 30]. Although the group was hired just to find bugs, they also read any computer related material that the day shift had left behind. The young hackers would even pick employees for new information. It was here that Gates and Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.
Roots of Business Career
Computer Center Corporation began to experience financial problems late in 1969. The company finally went out of business in March of 1970. The Lakeside Programmers Group had to find a new way to get computer time. Eventually they found a few computers on the University of Washington's campus where Allen's dad worked. The Lakeside Programmers Group began searching for new chances to apply their computer skills. Their first opportunity came early the next year when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to program a payroll program. Once again the group was given free computer time and for the first time, a source of income. ISI had agreed to give them royalties whenever it made money from any of the groups programs. As a result of the business deal signed with Information Sciences Inc., the group also had to become a legal business [Wallace, 1992, p. 42-43]. Gates and Allen's next project involved starting another company entirely on their own, Traf-O-Data. They produced a small computer which was used to help measure traffic flow. From the project they grossed around $20,000. The Traf-O-Data company lasted until Gates left for college. During Bill Gates' junior year at Lakeside, the administration offered him a job computerizing the school's scheduling system. Gates asked Allen to help with the project. He agreed and the following summer, they wrote the program. In his senior year, Gates and Allen continued looking for opportunities to use their skills and make some money. It was not long until they found this opportunity. The defense contractor TRW was having trouble with a bug infested computer similar to the one at Computer Center Corporation. TRW had learned of the experience the two had working on the Computer Center Corporation's system and offered Gates and Allen jobs. However thing would be different at TRW they would not be finding the bugs they would be in charge of fixing them. "It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programer," and it was there that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about forming their own software company [Wallace, 1992, p. 49-51].
In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. He had no idea what he wanted to study, so he enrolled as prelaw. Gates took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of Harvard's toughest math courses. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not in his studies. After locating the school's computer center, he lost himself in the world of computers once again. Gates would spend many long nights in front of the school's computer and the next days asleep in class. Paul Allen and Gates remained in close contact even with Bill away at school. They would often discuss ideas for future projects and the possibility of one day starting a business. At the end of Gates's first year at Harvard, the two decided that Allen should move closer to him so that they may be able to follow up on some of their ideas. That summer they both got jobs working for Honeywell [Wallace, 1992, p. 59]. As the summer dragged on, Allen began to push Bill harder with the idea that they should open a software company. Gates was still not sure enough to drop out of school. The following year, however, that would all change.
The Birth of Microsoft
In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.
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Key Events in Microsoft History

While searching for some of the information for the BASIC Timeline, I came across a word document that outlined many of the key events over the life of Microsoft Corporation. I'm not sure of the original author of this document (if you know who you are, please let me know so I can give you credit).

1/1/1975 The MITS Altair 8800 appears on the cover of Popular Electronics, inspiring Paul Allen and Bill Gates to develop a BASIC language for the Altair.
2/1/1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen sell BASIC, the first computer language program for a personal computer, to Microsoft's first customer, MITS of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
3/1/1975 Paul Allen joins MITS as director of software.
4/7/1975 “Altair BASIC - Up and Running,“ declares the headline of the first edition of MITS Computer Notes.
7/1/1975 BASIC officially ships as version 2.0 in both 4K and 8K editions.
2/3/1976 Bill Gates is one of the first programmers to raise the issue of software piracy. In "An Open Letter to Hobbyists," first published in MITS Computer Notes, Gates accuses hobbyists of stealing software and thus preventing "...good software from being written." He prophetically concludes with the line, "...Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software."
3/27/1976 Bill Gates gives the opening address at the First Annual World Altair Computer Convention, held in Albuquerque.
11/1/1976 Paul Allen resigns from MITS to join Microsoft full time.
11/26/1976 The trade name "Microsoft" is registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
2/3/1977 Paul Allen and Bill Gates execute an official partnership agreement.
7/1/1977 FORTRAN-80, Microsoft's second language product, is available.
11/1/1978 Microsoft establishes its first international sales office in Japan, ASCII Microsoft.
12/31/1978 Microsoft's year-end sales exceed $1 million.
1/1/1979 Microsoft moves its offices to Bellevue, Washington, from Albuquerque.
6/11/1980 Steve Ballmer joins Microsoft.
6/25/1981 Microsoft reorganizes into a privately held corporation with Bill Gates as President and chairman of the board and Paul Allen as executive vice president. Microsoft becomes Microsoft, Inc., an incorporated business in the state of Washington.
8/12/1981 IBM introduces its Personal Computer, which uses Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, Microsoft® MS-DOS® version 1.0, plus Microsoft BASIC, Microsoft COBOL, Microsoft Pascal, and other Microsoft products.
3/24/1982 Microsoft U.K. Ltd. (United Kingdom) is incorporated.
6/28/1982 Microsoft announces a new corporate logo, new packaging, and a comprehensive set of retail dealer support materials.
2/18/1983 Paul Allen resigns as Microsoft's executive vice president, but remains on the Board of Directors.
5/2/1983 Microsoft introduces the Microsoft Mouse.
9/29/1983 Microsoft introduces Word for MS-DOS 1.00.
11/10/1983 Microsoft unveils Microsoft Windows, an extension of the MS-DOS operating system that provides a graphical operating environment. The first retail version of Windows would not ship until November 1985.
1/24/1984 Microsoft ships BASIC and Multiplan simultaneously with the introduction of the Macintosh, becoming a leader in developing software for Apple computers.
7/11/1984 Microsoft Press introduces its first two titles: Cary Lu's The Apple Macintosh Book and Peter Norton's Exploring the IBM PCjr Home Computer.
8/12/1985 Microsoft celebrates its 10th anniversary with FY85 sales figures of $140 million.
9/3/1985 Microsoft selects the Republic of Ireland as the site of its first production facility outside of the U.S. to produce software products to be sold in the European market.
11/20/1985 Microsoft ships the retail version of Microsoft Windows.
2/26/1986 Microsoft moves to a new Corporate Campus in Redmond, Washington.
3/13/1986 Microsoft stock goes public at $21 per share, rising to $28 per share by the end of the first trading day and raising $61 million.
4/2/1987 Microsoft and IBM announce OS/2. This is the first product to be announced as a result of the Joint Development Agreement between Microsoft and IBM in August 1985.
9/8/1987 Microsoft ships its first CD-ROM application, Microsoft Bookshelf, a collection of 10 of the most popular and useful reference works on a single CD-ROM disk.
1/13/1988 Microsoft and Ashton-Tate announce Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database server software product for Local Area Networks (LANs) based on a relational database management system licensed from Sybase.
8/1/1989 Microsoft announces Office, the first general business software for Macintosh systems available on CD-ROM.
11/13/1989 Microsoft and IBM broaden the scope of their development agreement by agreeing to jointly develop a consistent, full range of systems software offerings for the 1990s. These software offerings will include enhancements to MS-DOS, Microsoft OS/2, and Microsoft LAN products and are compatible with the Intel 386 and 486 microprocessors.
12/27/1989 Microsoft announces that Jon Shirley will retire as president and chief operating officer on June 30, 1990. Shirley, who has been president since August of 1983, will continue to play a role in the management of the company as a member of the Board of Directors and as a consultant for strategic projects.
4/2/1990 Microsoft appoints Michael R. Hallman as president and chief operating officer, to succeed upon Jon Shirley's retirement.
7/25/1990 Kicking off its 15th-anniversary celebration, Microsoft becomes the first personal computer software company to exceed $1 billion in sales in a single year, with revenues of $1.18 billion.
11/12/1990 Bill Gates unveils his vision of the future of computing in his keynote address, "Information at Your Fingertips," at Fall/COMDEX '90.
1/1/1991 Microsoft Corp. becomes one of the first software companies to create its own computer-science research organization, Microsoft Research (later MSR).
5/20/1991 Microsoft announces Microsoft Visual BASIC for Windows at Windows World '91 in Atlanta.
11/14/1991 Microsoft announces the Multimedia Edition of Works for Windows 2.0, Microsoft?s first business application to incorporate multimedia.
3/1/1992 Microsoft kicks off its first-ever television advertising campaign. The TV ads are designed to build on the success of Windows and Windows-based applications.
3/1/1992 A three-person Office of the President is created, with three centers of strategic focus: Worldwide Product Group, headed by Mike Maples; Worldwide Sales and Support Group, headed by Steve Ballmer; and Worldwide Operations Group, headed by Frank Gaudette.
4/6/1992 Microsoft ships Microsoft Windows 3.1 with more than 1,000 enhancements. The new version creates unprecedented user demand, with more than 1 million advance orders placed worldwide.
4/27/1992 The Microsoft Board of Directors approves a 3-for-2 stock split.
6/23/1992 Bill Gates accepts the National Medal of Technology for Technological Achievement from President Bush.
1/1/1993 Microsoft announces the 10th anniversary of Microsoft Word, which first shipped for MS-DOS in 1983, on the Macintosh platform in 1984, and on the Windows platform in 1989. Based on data released by Dataquest, Inc. there are more than 10 million Word users worldwide.
3/22/1993 Microsoft Encarta, the first multimedia encyclopedia designed for a computer, is available.
4/14/1993 Microsoft reports that the number of licensed users of Microsoft Windows now totals more than 25 million, making it the most popular graphical operating system in the world.
5/24/1993 Microsoft launches Windows NT at Windows World in Atlanta.
12/6/1993 Microsoft is named the "1993 Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." by Fortune magazine as part of its Fifth Annual Study of America's Best Cities for Business.
4/18/1994 Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 has become the world's best-selling retail operating system, edging Windows 3.1 into the No. 2 spot.
6/28/1994 Microsoft acquires SoftImage, the leading developer of high-performance 2-D and 3-D computer animation and visualization software.
9/8/1994 Microsoft announces that Windows 95 is the official name for the next version of Windows, codenamed “Chicago.”
11/8/1994 Bob Herbold joins Microsoft as the new executive vice president and the chief operating officer.
11/14/1994 Microsoft debuts its new international advertising campaign, “Where Do You Want To Go Today,” at actor Robert DeNiro's trendy SoHo restaurant in New York.
3/22/1995 Microsoft and DreamWorks SKG announce that they have signed a joint-venture agreement to form a new software company designed to produce interactive and multimedia entertainment properties.
8/24/1995 Microsoft Windows 95 is available worldwide.
11/20/1995 MSN™, The Microsoft Network online service, enrolls more than 525,000 members in its first three months of service, making MSN one of the largest Internet service providers.
11/20/1995 Bill Gates authors his first book; The Road Ahead looks at how new technologies will guide the way we work, play, and live in the future.
1/16/1996 Microsoft acquires Vermeer Technologies and its flagship software application, FrontPage.
2/6/1996 Microsoft names Mattel USA President and Chief Operating Officer Jill E. Barad to its Board of Directors. Barad is the first woman named to the Microsoft Board of Directors since Portia Isaacson served in 1986 and 1987.
6/5/1996 MSNBC, the 24-hour news, talk, and information network from NBC News and Microsoft, debuts.
6/24/1996 Slate™, an interactive magazine of politics, culture, and public policy edited by Michael Kinsley, goes live on the Internet.
11/7/1996 Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 releases, marking the first time in its 14-year history that the product is available on the Windows platform.
11/12/1996 Microsoft's Board of Directors approves a 2-for-1 stock split.
12/3/1996 The Executive Committee replaces the Office of the President as the most senior management team at the company.
4/6/1997 Microsoft acquires WebTV Networks for approximately $425 million in stock and cash.
6/23/1997 Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda French Gates, announce the formation of the Gates Library Foundation.
10/21/1997 The Justice Department files a motion in Federal District Court, alleging that Microsoft violated a 1994 consent decree dealing with certain aspects of licensing the Windows operating system to computer manufacturers. Specifically, the Justice Department asks the court to stop Microsoft from tying the use of its Windows 95 operating system to the use of its Internet browser, a tool to navigate the Internet.
11/25/1997 Pollsters Hart and Teeter find that Microsoft is the most admired company in one of the most admired industries in America. When the public is asked to volunteer, without being prompted, the names of one or two companies they respect and admire, Microsoft is named by 25 percent. IBM and General Motors are next, at 16 percent, followed by AT&T and Wal-Mart at 15 percent.
1/26/1998 Microsoft Corporation's Board of Directors approves a 2-for-1 split of its common shares. This is the seventh time the common stock has split since the company went public on March 13, 1986.
6/25/1998 Windows 98 is available in more than 40 countries worldwide and from more than 12,000 retail outlets in North America.
7/21/1998 Bill Gates appoints Steve Ballmer president of Microsoft.
10/16/1998 The antitrust trial against Microsoft begins in Washington D.C.
11/16/1998 Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 is launched at COMDEX and receives PC Week's "Best of Show" and "Best Productivity Software" awards.
1/8/1999 Microsoft launches Encarta Africana, the first comprehensive encyclopedia of black history and culture.
2/24/1999 Microsoft's first online store, located at http://shop.microsoft.com/, debuts.
3/18/1999 Bill Gates introduces Internet Explorer 5.0 at a launch event on the Microsoft campus in Redmond. By the following week, more than 1 million downloads of the new version have taken place.
3/24/1999 Bill Gates releases his latest book, Business @ the Speed of Thought, published by Warner Books. At the heart of the new book is a single idea: For businesses to think and move quickly enough to succeed in the fast-paced digital economy, they must enable the flow of digital information.
6/7/1999 Steve Ballmer officially launches Microsoft Office 2000, a key element of the company's vision of "Knowledge Workers Without Limits."
9/13/1999 Microsoft announces Windows Distributed interNet Architecture (Windows DNA) 2000, a comprehensive, integrated platform for building and operating state-of-the-art distributed Web applications as well as the next wave of Internet-based Web services.
1/7/2000 Microsoft acquires Visio Corporation, the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history.
1/13/2000 Bill Gates creates a new role for himself -- chairman and chief software architect -- so that he can dedicate all of his time to helping drive the next generation Windows Internet platform and services. Steve Ballmer becomes president and CEO, and will take over management of the company.
4/3/2000 Microsoft announces the retail availability of Microsoft Project 2000 and the companion, Web-based Microsoft Project Central, a major upgrade to the world's best-selling project-management software, with more than 5 million users.
6/22/2000 Microsoft unveils the Microsoft® .NET platform, the vision and road map for its next generation of software and services. Microsoft .NET (pronounced "dot-net") will provide easier, more personalized, and more productive Internet experiences by harnessing constellations of smart devices and Web sites with advanced software through Internet protocols and formats.
9/14/2000 Microsoft announces the availability of Microsoft® Windows® Millennium Edition (Windows Me).
9/20/2000 Warner Books publishes Inside Out, Microsoft - In Our Own Words, a commemorative 25th-anniversary book.
2/13/2001 Microsoft Windows XP operating system makes its public debut at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.
5/31/2001 Microsoft Office XP launches, promising to unlock hidden knowledge and unleash the next wave of productivity gains.
10/25/2001 Microsoft Windows XP is released worldwide.
11/15/2001 Microsoft Xbox launches, offering the only system on the market designed from the ground up to deliver a complete online gaming experience.
1/15/2002 Bill Gates issues a companywide memo emphasizing that Microsoft?s must lead the industry to a new level of Trustworthiness in computing.
2/13/2002 Microsoft Visual Studio.NET launches during the VSLive! Conference in San Francisco.
3/18/2002 Microsoft and those states not agreeing to the settlement reached by the U.S. Department of Justice, began a trial on remedies in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
4/4/2002 Microsoft President Rick Belluzzo, appointed to his post slightly more than a year ago, is stepping down.
7/1/2002 Today at Microsoft® Tech-Ed 2002 Europe, Microsoft Corp. launched Microsoft Visual J#™ .NET, a development tool for Java-language developers building applications and services on the Microsoft .NET Framework. The launch of Visual J#™ .NET signals the completion and availability of all the Microsoft programming languages within Visual Studio® .NET, including Visual C++® .NET, Visual C#™ .NET and Visual Basic® .NET.
8/8/2002 Microsoft Reaches Agreement With the Federal Trade Commission On Passport.
10/23/2002 Microsoft Corp. today will unveil MSN® 8 with a celebration in Central Park, the first stop on a national tour intended to show consumers why a recent study* revealed that three out of four people prefer the new MSN 8 software to AOL 8.
11/1/2002 Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (U.S. District Court - Washington, D.C.) issues her final judgment conditionally approving the settlement Microsoft reached with the federal government and the nine states.
4/16/2003 Windows Server System replaces .Net Enterprise Servers as the first official portfolio name that encompasses more than a dozen Microsoft server software products, including Windows Server 2003. The new Windows Server System brand change informs customers that Windows Server 2003 is at the heart of the company's server strategy and that Microsoft's server products are being designed around a common architecture, to ensure their interoperability.
4/24/2003 Windows Server 2003 launches. It is the largest software development project in Microsoft history to date.
9/18/2003 Microsoft announces that its board of directors has decided to increase its size from eight to 10 members and is proposing two new members for election by shareholders at their annual meeting in November.