Timeline

Below is a timeline of some significant events in the history of Microsoft and other companies in the technology industry.

1960's | 1970's | 1980-1984 | 1985-1989 | 1990-1994 | 1995 | 1996-1999 | 2000's

1970's

Time Period	Description
December, 1972	Federal Trade Commission files complaint againt XEROX alleging restraint of trade and illegal monopolization of the copier industry
February, 1973	Researchers at XEROX's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) complete the Alto personal computer
January 1, 1975	The Altair 8080 computer from Micro Instrumentation & Telemetry Systems (MITS) debuts on the cover of Popular Electronics
February 1, 1975	Bill Gates and Paul Allen license a BASIC Interpreter they developed for the Altair 8080 to MITS
Spring, 1975	XEROX writes off $84.4 million loss after the failure of its Scientific Data Systems (SDS) acquisition of 1969
July, 1975	XEROX and FTC settle antitrust complaint
Summer, 1975	Paul Allen and Bill Gates form Micro-Soft
April 1, 1976	Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs form Apple Computer
June, 1979	Software Arts debuts VisiCalc spreadsheet software, created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, for the Apple II
November, 1979	Steve Jobs visits XEROX's PARC center in exchange for allowing XEROX to invest $1 million in Apple