Paul Allen

Thirty-four years ago, a nineteen year old kid and his twenty-two year old business partner sold their first program to a little computer company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The program was called BASIC, and it was the start of this company we call Microsoft. Today, we’re beginning a brand new…

The boys took over this week and it's clear we have a bro-mance in the making. If you've ever wondered what guys talk about when they're alone...now you know: Paul Allen makes it big! Ballmer makes a boo boo Surface gets even cooler... Real DaVinci footage Security Beta

For Microsoft, 1984 means a partnership with Apple, Microsoft Press Introduces its first two titles and we create a new Hardware and Peripherals Division dedicated to developing and marketing hardware products.    Previous Episodes: The History of Microsoft - 1975 The History…

For Microsoft, 1983 means the end of an era with the resignation of Paul Allen, the introduction of MS - DOS 2.0 and the formation of Microsoft Press, a trade-book publishing division specializing in computer books. Previous Episodes: The History of Microsoft - 1975 The…

For Microsoft, 1982 means a new Chief Operating Officer, a new logo and the very first in-house fax machine.     Previous Episodes: The History of Microsoft - 1975 The History of Microsoft - 1976 The History of Microsoft - 1977 The History of Microsoft -…

For Microsoft, 1981 means an entrance into the Operating Systems Business, we organize into a privately help organization and revenue jumps to over 17 million bucks.  Previous Episodes: The History of Microsoft - 1975 The History of Microsoft - 1976 The History of…

For Microsoft, 1980 means a new decade and new technology.   Microsoft introduces the Z-80 SoftCard, Steve Ballmer joins the company and we announce XENIX OS, a portable, UNIX-based operating system for 16-bit microprocessors. Previous Episodes: The History of Microsoft…

For Microsoft, 1979 is all about Basic when the M6800 version of Microsoft Basic is released, The 8080 version of Microsoft® Basic is the first microprocessor software product to win the ICP Million Dollar Award and we announce the availability of Microsoft BASIC Compiler for 8080…

For Microsoft, 1978 begins with the announcement of the Microsoft COBOL-80, which conforms to the 1974 ANSI standards for 8080, Z80, and 8085 microprocessor systems.  We establish our first international sales office and fiscal year sales for the first time exceed one…

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…