Hi Jeff:
Thanks. Maybe I as too brief.
1969; Bill Gates and Paul Allen, calling themselves the "Lakeside Programming Group" signed an agreement with the Computer Center Corporation to report bugs in PDP-10-software in exchange for computer time.
1976; Bill Gates accuses hobbyists of stealing software and thus preventing ..."good software from being written".
1976; The name "Microsoft" is registered with the office of the Secretary of State of New Mexico.
1981; MS-DOS introduced.
1982; Mitch Kapor develops the spread sheet program Lotus 1-2-3.
1983; Microsoft unveils Microsoft Windows, an extension of the MS-DOS operating system that provided a graphical operating system.
1991; Microsoft announces Microsoft Visual Basics for Windows.
1994; Microsoft announces Microsoft Windows 95.
1995; Microsoft ships Internet Explorer 2.0.
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Back in 1983 I was the Vice President and General Manager of a construction company. It was set up in 6 separate, stand alone, divisions each with a separate legal and accounting name even if all were the same stockholders.
I attended the very first IBM introductory meeting in Paramus, New Jersey in 1983 also attended by about 50 other people. When I consented to meet with IBM sales, the rep came to our office accompanied by a person from a private software writing firm. We were keeping company books, time cards, payroll, inventory, accounts receivables, accounts payable, profit and loss. Within the context of suitable software for our application there was nothing at all available. It had to be custom written. There are now Quick Books, Quicken and no doubt others too. The IBM PC was an upgrade from an old NCR National Cash Register machine and an accountant with a pencil and paper.
The software company was supposed to deliver in two separate packages. The first half gave us fits. The girls had never seen a computer before and it was C: prompt and DOS, with 5 1/2" floppy discs. The accountant was totally befuddled and clueless. When the second half of the package was delivered, over many weeks, they flubbed it. It was full of problems. One of which was the six 6 company's each requiring separate accounts. IBM suggested that we consolidate but the "Old Man" refused. We would have had a fighting chance with one company but six was too much. Finally the girls said they were running out of data entry time and needed a second computer and more help. Those things cost $8,000 in those days and the software was $3,000! That's 1983 dollars! Today you can buy a 4 GB Seagate external hard drive for $159 that will accommodate all of the books in your public library !
We had no use for any other software, games, music. I used a Texas Instrument calculator for all of my proposals, bids and calculations. My secretary took shorthand and typed letters on a type writer.
Incidentally I go back to the days of the slide rule. Probably most of the current generation have never seen one and don't know what it is.
I get something of a chuckle when I read about all of this complaining about Windows 8. If they only knew what it was like in the beginning.
