Microsoft Corporation, a software company, was started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 when MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) produced the first widely available personal computer in kit form, called the Altair 8800. This computer came with assembly language, making the computer difficult to use. Gates and Allen wrote a version of Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC), the first computer language for personal computers, specifically for that machine and sold this software for the Altair. This version worked so well that it became the foundation of almost all personal computers at that time, including Apple products. With this modest start Microsoft paved the way for the development of two more languages, Microsoft FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) and Microsoft COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language), and sales of other successful software programs in the budding personal computer market.

The second generation of personal computing occurred...