An Engrossing Exploration of Microsoft's Early Years
Casual Take:
Hey there, peeps! You won't often find us gushing over Microsoft, but give credit where it's due. A captivating first-hand account by Bill Gates herself about how Microsoft stormed into the tech scene is indeed impressive.
Now, don't get too excited about the story—it's the website that's grabbing our attention. As you scroll down, the text and visuals wrap around in a nostalgic, '80s-inspired fashion. Moving your cursor over the text unveils a nifty ASCII decryption effect reminiscent of the classic "Sneakers" movie. Even the static images are coated with a dithering effect like they're rendering on some antique gizmo. The mystery behind the designer tickles our curiosity, and we'd certainly love to snag them for a facelift on our own Retro Edition.
Aesthetics aside, the narrative revolves around 1975, when Gates and Allen convinced the manufacturer of the Altair 8800 to try out their BASIC software, claiming it would enhance user experience. Excited by the potential sales boost, the company urged a demonstration. Here's the kicker: Gates and Allen hadn't even seen an Altair or coded for one! They embarked on a race against time to complete the project before the meeting, with Allen still hacking away at the code during the flight. How they managed to pull it off still leaves us mind-boggled.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, at the end of the page, you can download the genuine source code for Altair BASIC, presented as scans of the original printout. It's a little throwback reading as you cross your fingers, hoping that the latest Windows update doesn't break your machine and declare it kaput.
Enrichment Insights:- Microsoft celebrated its 50th anniversary with a retro-themed experience called "The Original Build." This experience was created in collaboration with Assembly and Missing Pieces.- The given description seems to reflect elements of Microsoft's "The Original Build" experience, but it does not provide concrete evidence that it matches the specific retro-inspired website referred to in the base article.- "The Original Build" was neither designed as a standalone website solely dedicated to telling Bill Gates' first-hand account of Microsoft's origins nor does it provide a downloadable source code of Altair BASIC.- The provided enrichment data refers to Microsoft's "The Original Build" event that took place in 2021, but the base article is dated 2022, so it's possible that the enrichment data is not related to the event described in the base article.
[1] - Microsoft News Center[3] - The Original Build on GitHub
- The '80s-inspired website, with its ASCII decryption effect and dithering images, seems to draw inspiration from Microsoft's "The Original Build" experience, where one can find hardware artifacts and gadgets of yesteryears, showcasing the evolution of technology through the decades.
- Despite not finding a designer for our Retro Edition, we can't help but dream of mimicking the intricate details of Microsoft's "The Original Build," where they offer genuine source code downloads, such as Altair BASIC, for a thrilling trip down memory lane.
