{"id":3182,"date":"2025-04-04T19:37:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T19:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/04\/bill-gates-celebrates-50-years-of-microsoft-with-original-source-code\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T19:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T19:38:01","slug":"bill-gates-celebrates-50-years-of-microsoft-with-original-source-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/04\/bill-gates-celebrates-50-years-of-microsoft-with-original-source-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates Celebrates 50 Years of Microsoft With Original Source Code"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen pictured in 1984. Photo by \u00a9 Doug Wilson\/CORBIS\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Microsoft (MSFT)<\/a> might not exist today if it weren\u2019t for the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics. Featuring the computer kit Altair 8800 on its front page, the tech hobbyist magazine fell into the hands of Bill Gates<\/a> and the late Paul Allen<\/a>, two childhood friends that were quickly inspired to create a software program for the computer.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the time, personal computers were practically non-existent<\/a>,\u201d recalled Gates in a blog post celebrating five decades of Microsoft. The subsequent code written by the duo would go on to form the first-ever product for Microsoft, laying the groundwork for a procession of pioneering software releases in the following years that revolutionized technology and personal computing. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to think about the same piece of code led to a half century of innovation from Microsoft,\u201d said Gates.<\/p>\n

Microsoft, which turns 50 years old today (April 5), started off with a lie. In 1975, the 20-year-old Gates and 22-year-old Allen approached MITS, the electronics company behind Altair 8800, and pretended to have created software for the computer. \u201cThere was just one problem: We didn\u2019t,\u201d noted Gates.<\/p>\n

For the next two months, the young programmers worked furiously to write the code they had already claimed to make. Drawing from BASIC, a programming language invented by Dartmouth professors in the \u201960s, they stayed up day and night to create an interpreter compatible with the Altair 8800 that would allow users to interact with the computer.<\/p>\n

After a successful demonstration to Ed Roberts, the president of MITS, Gates and Allen secured a license for the software and turned it into the first-ever product of Microsoft. Their company was initially named Micro-Soft, a combination of the words \u201cmicroprocessor\u201d and \u201csoftware,\u201d although the hyphen was later dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore there was Office or Windows 96 or Xbox or AI, there was the original source code\u2014and I still get a kick out of seeing it, even all these years later,\u201d said Gates in his blog post, which offers an option to download a 157-page PDF of the code<\/a>. \u201cThe code remains the coolest code I\u2019ve ever written to this day,\u201d added Gates.<\/p>\n

The rest is history. Microsoft\u2019s subsequent releases included tech breakthroughs like Office, Windows 95 and Xbox, with the company now boasting a market cap of $2.7 trillion. Microsoft\u2019s success has also boosted the personal fortune of Gates, who stepped away from the company in 2008 to pursue philanthropy, to a staggering $105 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say Microsoft is as interesting today as it was at any time in history,\u201d noted Gates in a video accompanying his blog post. Still, reaching the 50-year mark is \u201cbittersweet,\u201d according to the billionaire. \u201cIt\u2019s also hard to believe that such a significant piece of my life has been around for a half-century.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Bill<\/p><\/div>\n