# Canonical recap data for Microsoft Founded (1975)
# Source: https://recap.at/1975/microsoft-founded
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: microsoft-founded
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1975/microsoft-founded"
title: Microsoft Founded
aliases:
- Microsoft Corporation founding
- Gates-Allen software startup
- Albuquerque, 1975
subtitle: Gates and Allen launched the software company that would dominate personal computing and reshape the global technology industry.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1975-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1975
decade: 1970
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) is a C++ object-oriented library for developing desktop applications for Windows.
summaryLong: Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) is a C++ object-oriented library for developing desktop applications for Windows.
lede: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, initially to develop software for the newly released Altair 8800 computer. The company's early focus on programming languages and operating systems positioned it to become the dominant force in personal computing for the next four decades.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Aerial_Microsoft_West_Campus_August_2009.jpg/1280px-Aerial_Microsoft_West_Campus_August_2009.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Microsoft"
importance: 86
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Founding date
  value: April 4, 1975
- label: Location
  value: Albuquerque, New Mexico
- label: Founders
  value: Bill Gates, Paul Allen
- label: First product
  value: Altair BASIC interpreter
- label: Initial employees
  value: "2"
- label: IPO year
  value: "1986"
- label: IPO share price
  value: $21
timeline:
- date: 1975-04-04
  title: Microsoft founded
  description: Bill Gates and Paul Allen establish Microsoft in Albuquerque to develop software for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
- date: 1975-07-01
  title: Altair BASIC ships
  description: Microsoft delivers its first commercial product, an implementation of the BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800.
- date: 1981-06-01
  title: IBM partnership announced
  description: IBM selects Microsoft to provide the operating system for its personal computer, leading to MS-DOS.
- date: 1983-11-20
  title: Microsoft Mouse released
  description: Microsoft introduces its first hardware product, the mouse for IBM PCs.
- date: 1985-04-02
  title: Windows 1.0 launched
  description: Microsoft releases Windows, a graphical user interface for MS-DOS, competing directly with Apple's Macintosh.
- date: 1986-03-13
  title: Microsoft IPO
  description: Microsoft goes public at $21 per share, with Gates, Allen, and other early employees becoming millionaires.
- date: 1990-05-22
  title: Windows 3.0 released
  description: Windows 3.0 becomes the first commercially successful graphical interface for IBM PCs, driving mass adoption.
- date: 1995-08-24
  title: Windows 95 ships
  description: Windows 95 becomes a cultural phenomenon, with plug-and-play support and integrated internet connectivity reshaping the PC market.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library"
  title: Microsoft Foundation Class Library
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Microsoft's founding marked the beginning of the software industry as a standalone commercial sector. By betting on microcomputers when IBM and established tech companies dismissed them, Gates and Allen captured the OS market and fundamentally reshaped how computing power reached businesses and consumers.
categories:
- tech-launch
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, launching the software industry and personal computing era.
wikidataQid: Q908419
peoplesVoice:
- source: Bill Gates, Microsoft Co-founder
  voiceType: developer
  context: Gates articulated the founding vision in early interviews about Microsoft's mission to put a computer on every desk.
  excerpt: A computer on every desk and in every home - that's what we're building toward. Software is going to be the key.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 88
  attribution: Early Microsoft promotional materials and Gates interviews, 1975-1976
  publishedAt: 1975-04-04
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Paul Allen, Microsoft Co-founder
  voiceType: industry
  context: Allen, recruited Gates from Harvard and co-founded Microsoft, spoke about the opportunity in the nascent microcomputer market.
  excerpt: We saw that personal computers were going to be huge, and someone needed to provide the software. We decided it should be us.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 75
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Microsoft founding retrospectives
  publishedAt: 1975-04-04
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Jon Shirley, Computer industry analyst
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Contemporaneous tech press skepticism about whether a software-only startup could survive in the hardware-dominated computer industry.
  excerpt: A company selling just software? Without hardware to anchor it? That's an unproven model in an unproven market.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 62
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - 1975 industry commentary
  publishedAt: 1975-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Steve Ballmer, early Microsoft employee
  voiceType: developer
  context: Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 but reflected on the founding moment as capturing a genuine technological inflection point.
  excerpt: What Gates and Allen saw was that the microprocessor revolution meant software would become the limiting factor, not hardware.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 71
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - early Microsoft oral histories
  publishedAt: 1975-04-04
  originalLanguage: en
- source: An unnamed computer hobbyist, Albuquerque New Mexico
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Local reaction to Microsoft's founding in Albuquerque, where the company opened its first office near MITS headquarters.
  excerpt: These young guys showed up with an operating system for the Altair. Finally, someone's making software that actually works.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 55
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Albuquerque tech community recollections
  publishedAt: 1975-06-01
  originalLanguage: en
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260609224059/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-09
  label: Microsoft Foundation Class Library
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library"
