#mos-6502

#mos-6502

As the software colossus explained in a Wednesday post, Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote the company's first product, BASIC for the Altair 8800 microcomputer and the Intel 8080 processor that powered it, in 1975. A year later Gates and Ric Weiland, Microsoft's second employee, ported Microsoft BASIC to the 6502 processor. In 1977, Commodore Computer licensed it for $25,000 and used Microsoft BASIC in its PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64 machines.