Chapter Three - The Birth of Microsoft

CHAPTER THREE

The Birth of Microsoft

THEY CALLED IT Micro-Soft.
A hyphen, at first. Microprocessors + software.
Two nerds, no office, one foot in the future.

It was 1975. Paul and Bill moved to Albuquerque, not exactly the tech capital of the world, but because that’s where MITS was. That’s where the Altair was. And for now, that’s where the game was.

But Gates wasn’t in it to play. He was in it to win.

He’d dropped out of Harvard by then. Something that pissed off his parents, thrilled his inner rebel, and basically guaranteed he’d never fail. He couldn't. That’d mean Dad was right.

The early days of Microsoft were less about empire and more about scramble.
Writing software.
Demoing software.
Fixing bugs while the client was literally on the phone.

They hired a few misfits. Built code in tight, hot rooms. Slept at the office. Ate bad food. Wrote even worse documentation. But the product worked, and it worked fast.

Gates was brutal, even then.
He’d walk around, peer over shoulders, and mutter things like:

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Which, in the language of Bill, meant:
You’re smart. Do better. I expect better.

It created an environment that was intense, electric, and frankly, toxic by modern HR standards.

But it worked. They started selling software to other PC makers, in small deals at first, then slightly bigger ones.

Still, Gates wasn’t content. Writing software for other people’s hardware wasn’t enough.

He was looking for something he could license, control, and leverage.

That opportunity would come with a phone call from IBM.