The History of Microsoft - 1977

For Microsoft, 1977 marks the beginning of an official partnership between Paul Allen and Bill Gates, we hire our first official employee and the FORTRAN-80, Microsoft's second language product finally becomes available.


Previous Episodes:
The History of Microsoft - 1975
The History of Microsoft - 1976

February 3, 1977

An official partnership agreement between Paul Allen and Bill Gates is executed.

July 1, 1977

FORTRAN-80, Microsoft’s second language product, is available at the prices of $500 for an individual license. OEM licenses are available.

September 13, 1977

Microsoft receives new computers from Commodore, Radio Shack and Texas Instruments.

September 26, 1977

The Albuquerque facilities are expanded by three new offices in the same building.

November 18, 1977

Microsoft terminates an exclusive license to MITS for Microsoft's BASIC product and announces availability of versions for the 8080 and Z-80 microprocessors.

1977 Revenue/Headcount
The 1977 Calendar Year revenue totals $381,715, headcount is 9.

Other 1977:

· Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80® Model 1 microcomputer, which retails for $600 with 4K memory.

· Commodore Business Machines introduces the Personal Electronic Transactor (PET) computer.

· Elvis Presley, the king of rock ‘n’ roll, dies.

Star Wars, a blockbuster high-tech movie directed by George Lucas, costars robots R2-D2 and C3PO.

*note, the archive footage from Bill Gates was filmed November 30 and December 1st of 1993 not 1994. It has been corrected in this episode and will be for 1975 and 1976 as well.