apr 4, 1975 - Microsoft

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Bill Gates and Paul Allen, childhood friends, founded Traf-O-Data in 1972 to track and analyze automobile traffic data. They later pursued a degree in computer science at Washington State University, but dropped out to work at Honeywell. In 1975, they developed a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer, which was distributed by MITS. They established Microsoft in 1975, with Gates as CEO and the name "Micro-Soft" suggested by Allen.

In 1977, Microsoft formed its first international office with ASCII Magazine in Japan. The company moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington, in January 1979. Microsoft entered the operating system (OS) business in 1980 with its own version of Unix called Xenix, but MS-DOS solidified its dominance. IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the CP/M OS for the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC). Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, which it branded as MS-DOS.

Microsoft eventually became the leading PC operating systems vendor. The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983 and a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing Hodgkin's lymphoma. He later invested in low-tech sectors, sports teams, commercial real estate, neuroscience, and private space flight.

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