Microsoft turns 50 years old, how did the company start?

If you are thinking about how to describe the staggering pace of history, just look at the American company Microsoft. The company was created when the computers barely entered the basements and were considered toys for the rich. It’s been only half a century since then.

In April 2025, Microsoft turned 50 years old.

In the early years of Microsoft, Bill Gates worked with large loudspeakers that used the sounds of musical bands like LED Zeppelin, Creedence and Grand Fug, which were in fashion.

Gate, Gates often slept on the office sofa and hired only people who were willing to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In a company where the oldest worker (co -founder Paul Allen) was only 25 years old, the motto was: « Don’t trust anyone over 30 years old. » This was a famous saying among the hippies from the last 1960s – exactly the time when Gates and Allen became friends in the gymnasium.

Although they had almost three years of age, they were joined by the common passion for programming and computers – then they looked like metal closets with lights, located in rooms with a cooling system.

Access to these computers was limited and very expensive.

Does anyone remember the time when the programming was done on pierced cards of compressed cardboard? In an interview a month ago, Gates said he still knew how to program that way. However, at the dawn of Microsoft, the electronic methods of programming with magnetic registration on the discs had already dominated.

Impressed by the presentation of the Altair 8800 computer in Popular Electronics magazine, Allen and Gates realized that a technological revolution was approaching, the result of which would be the penetration of computers in all spheres of life.

The Altair 8800 was a technical miracle for the time, as it included technologies that until then were found only in large, heavy cars operating in basements with giant corporate cooling system.

Allen and Gates realized that the future stood precisely in the possibility that the Altair 8800 would be easily transported everywhere and everywhere.

The presence of computers in our daily lives today is so common that we do not think that only half a century ago, the world seemed quite different from a technological point of view.

At that time, many US California companies began producing relatively portable computers, each with their own primitive operating system and a modest set of software.

But there was no great vision, nor common standards. Computers were perceived as expensive toys for a narrow segment of specialists.

Allen tells Gates the magazine with the new computer and says, « This is happening without us. We have to do something. »

The market for personal computer software was on expansion, and the two partners had a lot of ideas to fill this gap.

As is usually the case in such cases, 19-year-old Gates abandoned Harvard (29 years later, another second-year student at that university, Mark Zuckerberg, would do the same) and, along with Allen, founded the company called Micro Soft in April 1975.

In 1981, the company was officially registered as « Microsoft ».

The cook is attributed to the saying that one day every home will have at least one computer. In 1977 this looked like a fantasy, but 30 years later, his words became a reality.

IBM. How did everything start?

Fifty years ago, Silicon Valley was consolidated as a modern technology center, scattered without any clear order in the northern part of California.

However, the computer industry was slightly adjusted, which gave Microsoft an early opportunity to cast lots and win.

The indisputable computer technology leader at that time was IBM. In 1980, Microsoft received a message from IBM to create a new operating system. Until then, the company had not developed operating systems and had no experience in the field.

However, Gates decided to « play a fool, » the bluff and managed to persuade the computer giant to give the order to Microsoft.

IBM’s engineers did not believe in the first meeting that the boy with disordered hair and jeans was the Director General of the company.

The circumstances of this contract remain controversial and continue to be subject to speculation 45 years later. Did Bill Gates stole the technology that belonged to another company? Even if so, the owners of that company could not appreciate the potential of their product at the time. Gates managed to see this.

When visiting Xerox’s lab, Steve Jobs saw some ideas that would revolutionize computers: mouse and graphical interface. While Xerox’s engineers did not give much importance, Jobs immediately understood their potential and how he could bring them to the masses.

Ms-dos

A key element of the agreement between David (Microsoft) and Goliath (IBM) was that Microsoft maintained the right to sell the new MS-DOS operating system for other companies. This turned out to be a crucial factor, as MS-DOS became standard in industry.

Microsoft’s strategic movements, combined with IBM’s decision, laid the foundations for the Global MS-DOS raising and stamped Microsoft’s future as a software leading company. MS-DOS was updated from time to time by 2021 and is still widely used, especially in developing countries.

Although playing a key role in the computer revolution, Microsoft has never been physically placed in Silicon Valley, but in the state of Washington.

Microsoft becomes a public company

In March 1986, the company was listed on the Nasdaq Technology Stock Exchange at a starting price of 10 cents per share (recalculated by 2024). In June 2024, the price of an action reached $ 468. Theoretically, a dollar invested in Microsoft in 1986 would have made a profit of $ 4,679 in 2024.

Bill Gates, then 26, became the world’s youngest billionaire. About 12,000 former company employees became millionaires thanks to the payment of the share of the salary with shares.

As an interesting fact, in 2025 it is not possible to buy a home in Silicon Valley for a million dollars. Now at least 3 million are needed.

Today, 70 percent of the world’s personal computers use Microsoft Windows operating system.

The first version of Windows came out in 1985, but the Golden Age for Microsoft was the 1995 version, which placed the company on the global scene. Today, Windows 10 is the most used operating system in the world, with the oldest versions still used in the distant corners of the globe.

It can be said that today Microsoft « looks » from every corner of the planet. If you simply look, or more observing, this remains a matter of personal interpretation.