Editing Microsoft (section)

===1972–1985: Founding===
[[File:Altair 8800 and Model 33 ASR Teletype.jpg|left|thumb|256x256px|An Altair 8800 computer (left) with the popular Model 33 ASR Teletype as terminal, paper tape reader, and paper tape punch]]
[[File:1981BillPaul.jpg|thumb|left|[[Paul Allen]] and [[Bill Gates]] on October 19, 1981, after signing a pivotal contract with [[IBM]]<ref name="Allan 2001">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/A_History_of_the_Personal_Computer |title=A History of the Personal Computer |last=Allan |first=Roy A. |publisher=Allan Publishing |isbn=978-0-9689108-0-1 |year=2001 |access-date=July 17, 2010}}</ref>{{Rp|228|date=November 2012}}]]
[[File:Bill_Gates_and_Paul_Allen_Business_Cards.jpg|thumb|Bill Gates and Paul Allen's Original Business Cards located in the Microsoft Visitor Center]]
Childhood friends [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] sought to make a business using their skills in [[computer programming]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520#early-life |title=Bill Gates |publisher=Biography.com |access-date=November 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106203412/http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520#early-life |archive-date=November 6, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1972, they founded [[Traf-O-Data]], which sold a rudimentary computer to track and analyze automobile traffic data. Gates enrolled at [[Harvard University]] while Allen pursued a degree in computer science at [[Washington State University]], though he later dropped out to work at [[Honeywell]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Microsoft Company History |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/microsoft-corporation-history/ |access-date=March 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806021000/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/microsoft-corporation-history/ |archive-date=August 6, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The January 1975 issue of ''[[Popular Electronics]]'' featured [[Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems]]'s (MITS) [[Altair 8800]] microcomputer,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/12/by_martin_finuc_2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090101055041/http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/12/by_martin_finuc_2.html |archive-date=January 1, 2009 |title=Harvard Square newsstand sold the magazine that started a revolution |work=Boston.com |publisher=The New York Times Company |date=December 30, 2008 |last=Finucane |first=Martin}}</ref> which inspired Allen to suggest that they could program a [[BASIC]] interpreter for the device. Gates called MITS and claimed that he had a working interpreter, and MITS requested a demonstration. Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter, and it worked flawlessly when they demonstrated it to MITS in March 1975 in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]. MITS agreed to distribute it, marketing it as [[Altair BASIC]].<ref name="Allan 2001" />{{Rp|108, 112–114|date=November 2012}} Gates and Allen established Microsoft on April 4, 1975, with Gates as CEO,<ref name="BBCTL">{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5085630.stm |title=Bill Gates: A Timeline |work=BBC News Online |publisher=BBC |date=July 15, 2006 |access-date=July 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622201711/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5085630.stm |archive-date=June 22, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Allen suggested the name "Micro-Soft", short for micro-computer software.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1995/10/02/206528/index.htm |date=October 2, 1995 |title=Bill Gates & Paul Allen Talk Check Out The Ultimate Buddy Act in Business History |work=Fortune |publisher=Time Inc. |last=Schlender |first=Brent |access-date=April 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503155554/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1995/10/02/206528/index.htm |archive-date=May 3, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Paul |date=2011 |title=Paul Allen: Idea Man |publisher=Penguin Group |page=91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0141969385 |isbn=978-0-14-196938-1}}</ref> In August 1977, the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office of [[ASCII Corporation|ASCII Microsoft]].<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n8/192_Kay_Nishi_bridges_the_cul.php |title=Kay Nishi bridges the cultural gap |last=Staples |first=Betsy |journal=Creative Computing |volume=10 |issue=8 |page=192 |date=August 1984 |access-date=July 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511110050/http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n8/192_Kay_Nishi_bridges_the_cul.php |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Microsoft moved its headquarters to [[Bellevue, Washington]], in January 1979.<ref name="BBCTL" />

Microsoft entered the [[operating system]] (OS) business in 1980 with its own version of [[Unix]] called [[Xenix]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.computersourcemag.com/articles/viewer.asp?a=695 |title=Under The Hood: Part 8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901182630/http://www.computersourcemag.com/articles/viewer.asp?a=695 |archive-date=September 1, 2006 |work=Computer Source |last=Dyar |first=Dafydd Neal |date=November 4, 2002 |access-date=July 14, 2010}}</ref> but it was [[MS-DOS]] that solidified the company's dominance. [[IBM]] awarded a contract to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the [[CP/M]] OS to be used in the [[IBM Personal Computer]] (IBM PC).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9xS6t4ibxoC |year=2002 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-20595-1 |access-date=February 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323120013/https://books.google.com/books?id=k9xS6t4ibxoC |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called [[86-DOS]] from [[Seattle Computer Products]] which it branded as MS-DOS, although IBM rebranded it to [[IBM PC DOS]]. Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981. IBM had copyrighted the IBM PC [[BIOS]], so other companies had to reverse engineer it for non-IBM hardware to run as [[IBM PC compatible]]s, but no such restriction applied to the operating systems. Microsoft eventually became the leading PC operating systems vendor.<ref>{{Cite magazine |magazine =Smart Computing  |volume=6 |issue=3 |url=http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/r0603/09r03/09r03.asp&guid= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040405051349/http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Farchive%2Fr0603%2F09r03%2F09r03.asp&guid= |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 5, 2004 |title=Microsoft to Microsoft disk operating system (MS-DOS) |date=March 2002 |access-date=August 18, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Blaxill |first1=Mark |last2=Eckardt |first2=Ralph |title=The Invisible Edge: Taking Your Strategy to the Next Level Using Intellectual Property |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JO6kA0hebJIC&pg=PA210 |year=2009 |publisher=Portfolio |isbn=978-1-59184-237-8 |page=210 |access-date=February 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323120014/https://books.google.com/books?id=JO6kA0hebJIC&pg=PA210 |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|210|date=November 2012}} The company expanded into new markets with the release of the [[Microsoft Mouse]] in 1983, as well as with a publishing division named [[Microsoft Press]].<ref name="Allan 2001" />{{Rp|232|date=November 2012}}
Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing [[Hodgkin's lymphoma]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://old.seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2014643290_paulallen31.html |title=Paul Allen goes public with hard feelings toward Gates |work=The Seattle Times |access-date=January 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104003653/http://old.seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2014643290_paulallen31.html |archive-date=November 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Allen claimed in ''Idea Man: A Memoir by the co-founder of Microsoft'' that Gates wanted to dilute his share in the company when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease because he did not think that he was working hard enough.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703806304576232051635476200 |title=Microsoft Co-Founder Hits Out at Gates |last1=Wingfield |first1=Nick |last2=Guth |first2=Robert A. |date=March 30, 2011 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref> Allen later invested in [[Low technology|low-tech]] sectors, sports teams, commercial real estate, neuroscience, private space flight, and more.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/01/31/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-microsoft-billionaire-paul-allen-seattle-seahawks-owner/#48d64a5f6db1 |title=10 Things You Didn't Know About Microsoft Billionaire Paul Allen, Seattle Seahawks Owner |last=O'Connor |first=Clare |work=Forbes |access-date=February 1, 2018 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202013548/https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/01/31/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-microsoft-billionaire-paul-allen-seattle-seahawks-owner/#48d64a5f6db1 |archive-date=February 2, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>