The History of Microsoft

In this documentary, Charles Simonyi tells the history of Microsoft’s business and creative challenges, and how, after becoming known as the father of Excel and Word, he went on to co-found his own company and to take up space travel.  Make sure to check out Part One of…

Meet software visionary, business executive, and space tourist Charles Simonyi. Simonyi pioneered the development of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. This documentary begins with Simonyi’s youth in Hungary in the 1960s, where he first learned to program on hand-me-down Soviet computers, and…

Jeff Raikes is the Visionary behind Microsoft Office. In Part One, we got a great glimpse into Jeff's history and the history of the technology industry. In Part Two, Jeff Raikes talks about Odyssey, which was the codename for Microsoft Excel. Jeff explains making, along with Bill Gates,…

Jeff Raikes left Apple in 1981 and became the visionary behind Microsoft Office. This is Part One of the Jeff Raikes story for The History of Microsoft series.  Jeff's entire story is told with great visuals; we dug through thousands of old tapes and photographs to…

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 of Microsoft -…

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 - 1975The History of Microsoft - 1976The…

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 - 1975The History of Microsoft - 1976The History of Microsoft - 1977The History of…

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 million dollars . Oh and of…

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…

I want to thank everyone for their support of The History of Microsoft series here on Channel 9.  I had a great time creating it and I hope you enjoyed watching it.  1999 is the Series finale because we may try and do something a bit different for the last decade…