microsoft 36 years ago, Microsoft became a hardware company by making a device for the Apple II

[november_ra1n]

36 years ago, Microsoft became a hardware company by making a device for the Apple II

 

 

While Microsoft is best known as one of the largest, most powerful software companies in the world, here's a bit of trivia about the company. 

 

It actually announced its first hardware product 36 years ago, on April 2, 1980, reports Marcel Brown at This Day in Tech History.

 

The product was a computer card for the Apple II computer. Open up the Apple II, put the card in and it allowed the Apple II to run software on a different, alternative operating system known as CP/M. This allowed Apple II users to buy software built for CP/M machines, including running a word processing program called WordStar, not made by Microsoft.

 

"At one point, the SoftCard product will bring in about half of Microsoft’s total revenue. It will be discontinued in 1986 as CP/M’s popularity waned," writes Brown.

 

As Apple just celebrated its 40th anniversary on April 1, it's interesting to consider that Microsoft has been in the hardware business for almost as long.

 

 

MicrosoftMicrosoft SoftCard ad for Apple II Ad from May, 1982

 

Source: businessinsider.com

[dMog]

they have come a long way... 

[luisam]

About the same time, in 1980, Tandy Radio Shack released the Color Computer with an 8 Kb Color Basic interpreter ROM and anoter 8 K ROM with Extended Color Basic, by MICROSOFT. It didn't have an operating system, started up on Basic. The Color Computer was a rather slow computer and the periferic hardware was really poor, it used a TV set for monitor and cassette recorder to save but these Basic ROMs by Microsoft were really fast and powerful for its time and very similar to the one know as MS Basic, also used for the IBM PC as part of MS DOS. So, running Basic, the speed of this Tandy Color Cumputer was about the same as that of the first generation IBM PC.

[Amigaspace]

Microsoft also created the AmigaBASIC. It is pretty bad for Amiga software standards but still, an unusual bit of computer history.