Microsoft on the Map
The Local Roots of a Global Company
Introduction
For five decades, Microsoft has shaped the world.
Its founders and leaders are nearly mythic figures, representing the impacts of a driven entrepreneurial spirit.
The company’s products have affected the work and lives of more than a billion people.
The company itself has been at the center of countless debates.
Click the links in the caption to read more.
Microsoft's story has global proportions.
But it is also rooted in the Seattle region.
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, two high school friends from Seattle. Their first products were versions of the BASIC programming language for the new home computers. Later, the company expanded to operating systems, applications, games, and more.
The company started in Albuquerque, NM, where Gates and Allen were joined by Ric Weiland, a friend from their Seattle high school, and a handful of other employees. In 1979, the company, and its 13 employees, returned to the place things started, moving to a suburb of Seattle, Bellevue, WA.
The small start-up had become one of the fastest growing and most profitable software companies of the era.
Seattle’s industrial history, its space-age ambitions, its communities of creative minds, and even its natural beauty all helped create the environment for Microsoft to emerge and thrive. The company’s journey has been deeply influenced by its surroundings, just as it has left a lasting impact on the region.
In commemoration of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, this exhibit is a tour of the places that made the early days of Microsoft’s story possible.
Credits
This online exhibit was created by the Museum of History & Industry. It was curated and developed by Dave Unger in collaboration with museum staff.
Images are provided by the Museum of History & Industry, Lakeside School, the University of Washington, Stanford University, and the Computer Museum.
For more information about MOHAI’s collections items, including rights and reproductions, see the museum’s collections and research page or click on the item link in the caption of a specific item.
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