Microsoft and Altair BASIC — The Beginning
Nowadays when we think of Microsoft, different products come to mind. Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Excel, X-Box etc. Ever wondered what the beginning was like?
It started with Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. There wasn’t a “Microsoft”, but a “Micro-soft”: Microcomputer software.
We type our desires onto keyboards and watch as they appear on screens. It was the opposite in 1975; the Altair 8800 computer had switches and no screen. Imagine a computer having switches much very similar to the ones you had in your room. Now imagine that toggling these switches is the only way you could make your computer do stuff; sounds difficult. Your computer would then give you results via light patterns; scaryy.
The Altair 8800 was created by a company called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System).
Bill and Paul developed a software (Altair Basic) that would enable easier communication with the Altair 8800. The “BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)” in Altair Basic refers to a group of high-level programming languages via which individuals would create programs that could run on microcomputers. Bill and Paul basically (pun intended) developed software that would enable more people access the Altair 8800 and then develop their own programs thereby expanding the usage of Altair in society.
A similar example would be developing “Python” in the modern day era or some programming language that made communication with computers easier.
Similar software like Altair Basic was later on developed by Gates and Allen for other computer manufacturers, thereby facilitating their market penetration. This was the foundation for Microsoft's successive operating systems, DOS and Windows.
Altair and its competitors are no longer in existence. Nevertheless, we now have Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba etc. Different manufacturers, different designs, but all sharing the same operating system: Microsoft Windows.