Back in the '70s computer revolution had just begun. Apple released its personal computer called the Apple II in April 1977, and many claim that Apple is the pioneer of personal computers which is wrong. it was actually commodore who is the pioneer of the personal computer because they released their computer before Apple did. Apple II was released in April 1977 while Commodore PET was released in January 1977. While these two companies are tech giants their history is interesting. Let us start with the history of how these two companies make a name for themself.
How Microsoft become popular
Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975. The company was founded by non other than Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The common myth about Microsoft is that Microsoft gained popularity by importing its OS to IBM's machine but that was not the case. Microsoft got a name for its self because they ported their BASIC programming language to other companies before IBM. Before Microsoft went famous Microsoft need to gain popularity and traction so they choose Commodore. They choose Commodore because at that time Commodore was already a big company but they needed help and Microsoft saw the opportunity to become famous so Microsoft helps Commodore.
Commodore at that time needed an OS to run their newly made computer called the Commodore PET. bill gates approach Jack Tramiel, Jack Tramiel at that time was the boss of Commodore. But the negotiation Bill gates had with Jack Tramiel isn't friendly because he had arguments with Jack Tramiel. Tramiel never takes Bill gates very seriously because at that time he was still young.
Jack Tramiel offer Bill gates a thousand dollars of cash, Jack wanted to purchase all the rights from Bill gates. In the end, Bill gates ended up agreeing on Tramiel's deal. but that is not the end of our tale because the legend says that Bill gates secretly plant an easter egg in his BASIC programming language. Bill gates did this because “just in case Commodore ever tried to claim that the code wasn’t from Microsoft”.
if you type WAIT6502,1 on Commodore PET BASIC then the following will appear
These kinds of stuff were intentional because we can only speculate that Microsoft wanted to make sure Commodore cannot take credit for Commodore BASIC.
After the deal between Bill gates and Jack Tramiel went successful Commodore started to produce their home computer called the Commodore PET. the computer itself helped fill the void of the Personal Computer revolution. After the PET went successful Microsoft starting to gain popularity, companies like IBM, Intel, and etc starting to approach Microsoft to ask Microsoft for an OS or in this case a programming language.
How Apple become popular
Apple was founded on April 1, 1976. The founder of Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Steve Jobs was good at marketing while Steve Wozniak was good at hardware engineering. Both can be a good combination when combined together. before Apple went famous Jobs and Wozniak needs to find a way to generate profit for the company so they work on Atari which at the time was the largest videogame company in America. Steve Wozniak has a little project of his own, he started to develop games by circuiting hardware. he developed his own PONG game from his home.
His little project is called Breakout. He offers his project to many companies but all of them reject his project except one, Atari. Nolan Bushnell is the Boss of Atari and when Steve Wozniak approaches him with his project Nolan decided to agree on his project. he was given a very short amount of days to complete his project but in the end, he managed to successfully finish his project. While Steve Wozniak is working on his project, Steve Jobs is causing a fuss in the office of Atari. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak work on Atari, Steve Jobs however is not very friendly or even polite to the worker at Atari, unlike Steve Wozniak.
After Steve Wozniak completes his project the worker at atari started to produce Wozniak's game. Nolan Bushnell gave both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak a paycheck. Nolan Bushnell also gave Jobs and Wozniak a $5.000 dollar bonus but Jobs kept all the bonus for himself instead of sharing the bonus with Wozniak.
Steve Wozniak didn't find out about this until years later when he found Steve Job's notebook. Steve Jobs wrote the $5.000 bonus in his notebook so Steve Wozniak is curious about the bonus. Steve Wozniak visited Nolan Bushnell. Both have a picnic in the backyard. Steve Wozniak ask Nolan about that bonus and Nolan Ask "what did you do to that $5.000 bonus?", Steve Wozniak replied "what?". Steve Wozniak was visibly upset.
overtime Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak maintained their friendship. there is no hatred between the two. Steve Jobs got the funding he needed to grow his company. while he is currently growing Apple, Steve Wozniak leaves Apple.
that's all for now everyone I hope you enjoyed this article.