Bill Gates Reflects on the Code That Changed Tech Forever

Photo : AP

Bill Gates, the man who started Microsoft, still remembers the special computer code he wrote 50 years ago. This code helped start a big change in the world of computers.

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Even though the code looks very simple compared to today’s advanced technology, it was very important. It helped create Microsoft in April 1975. The company, which started small, will now celebrate its 50th birthday on Friday.

Gates, now 69 years old, wrote in a blog post about how he and his high school friend, Paul Allen, rushed to build software for a new computer called the Altair 8800. They read about this small computer in a magazine in January 1975. At that time, Altair 8800 was a new type of computer powered by a tiny chip made by Intel, a company that was not well-known back then.

Excited by this new computer, Gates and Allen quickly called the company that made Altair, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems. They told the CEO, Ed Roberts, that they had created software to run the computer. But there was one big problem—they had not actually written the software yet!

To make their promise come true, they decided to use the BASIC programming language, which was first created in 1964. However, they still had to find a way to make it work with the Altair 8800, even though they had never even seen the computer.

For two months, Gates and Allen worked very hard with very little sleep. Finally, Gates finished the code, which became the first program for the Altair computer. “That code is still the coolest I have ever written,” Gates wrote in his blog. He even shared the original code online for people to see.

This small program laid the foundation for Microsoft, which later created software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft also made the Windows operating system, which is still used in most computers today.

“That was the moment that changed everything,” Gates said in a video. “That was when personal computers really started.”

This year, Gates has been thinking a lot about the past. He will turn 70 in October. In February, he released a book about his childhood, where he wrote about feeling lonely and misunderstood as a kid. He also marked the 25th anniversary of his charity foundation, which he started after stepping down as Microsoft’s CEO in 2000.

At first, Microsoft struggled after Gates left, but now, under CEO Satya Nadella, the company is stronger than ever. It is worth about $2.8 trillion today.

In his book, Gates also looked back on his sometimes difficult relationship with Steve Jobs, the man who started Apple. Apple will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.