Microsoft was founded on 4 April 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their first product was a version of the BASIC programming language for one of the earliest personal computers, the Altair 8800. Today the company's software, from Windows and Office to cloud services and AI tools, is used by billions of people.
A few milestones
- 1981: MS-DOS was chosen as the operating system for the IBM Personal Computer.
- 1985: The first version of Windows appeared.
- 1990s: Office became the standard way to write, calculate and present at work.
- 2010s onward: A major shift to cloud computing, with Azure and Microsoft 365.
- 2020s: A close partnership with OpenAI and AI features in many products.
What it teaches young learners
- Great things start small. The first product was a programming language for a hobbyist computer.
- Programming is a business skill. Writing software for a new kind of machine created a company.
- Platforms change. Mainframes, PCs, the web, phones and now AI each opened new opportunities for people who were ready.
Many Nigerian developers and entrepreneurs are building the next chapter today. The first step for any of them was learning to code.