Editing Bill Gates (section)

=== BASIC ===
[[File:Altair 8800 Computer.jpg|thumb|MITS [[Altair 8800]] Computer with {{Convert |8|in|mm|adj=on}} floppy disk system whose first programming language was Microsoft's founding product, [[Altair BASIC]]]]
Gates read the January 1975 issue of ''[[Popular Electronics]]'' which demonstrated the [[Altair 8800]], and contacted [[Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems]] (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a [[BASIC]] interpreter for the platform.<ref name="keyevents">{{cite web|title=Microsoft Visitor Center Student Information: Key Events in Microsoft History |url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/3/0/130dd86a-a196-4700-b577-521c4cf5cec1/key_events_in_microsoft_history.doc |publisher=Microsoft |format=.DOC |access-date=February 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226224212/http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/3/0/130dd86a-a196-4700-b577-521c4cf5cec1/key_events_in_microsoft_history.doc |archive-date=February 26, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president [[Ed Roberts (computers)|Ed Roberts]] agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair [[emulator]] that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as [[Altair BASIC]]. MITS hired Allen,<ref name="thocp1">{{cite web|title=Microsoft history |publisher=The History of Computing Project |url=http://www.thocp.net/companies/microsoft/microsoft_company.htm |access-date=March 31, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514211138/http://www.thocp.net/companies/microsoft/microsoft_company.htm |archive-date=May 14, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with him at MITS in November 1975. Allen named their partnership "Micro-Soft", a combination of "microcomputer" and "software", and their first office was in Albuquerque. The first employee Gates and Allen hired was their high school collaborator [[Ric Weiland]].<ref name="thocp1" /> They dropped the hyphen within a year and officially registered the trade name "[[Microsoft]]" with the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on November 26, 1976.<ref name="thocp1" /> Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.

Microsoft's Altair BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked out and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, he wrote [[An Open Letter to Hobbyists]] in the MITS newsletter in which he asserted that more than 90% of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid Microsoft for it and the Altair "hobby market" was in danger of eliminating the incentive for any professional developers to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software.{{Sfn |Manes|1994|p=81}} This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems.<ref name="thocp1" /> The company moved from Albuquerque to [[Bellevue, Washington]] on January 1, 1979.<ref name="keyevents" />

Gates said he personally reviewed and often rewrote every line of code that the company produced in its first five years. As the company grew, he transitioned into a manager role, then an executive.<ref name="waterloo">{{cite speech|url=http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2005/10-13Waterloo.aspx |last=Gates |first=William 'Bill' |title=Remarks |date=October 13, 2005 |location=Waterloo, ON |access-date=March 31, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406130809/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2005/10-13Waterloo.aspx |archive-date=April 6, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>