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

1980-1984

Time Period	Description
Summer, 1980	Apple hires 15 XEROX employees to work on Apple's Lisa computer project
May 19, 1980	Apple releases the Apple III PC
June, 1980	Steve Ballmer joins Microsoft as assistant to the president
July, 1980	IBM Corporate Management Committee (CMC) instructs Bill Lowe to develop a prototype IBM "Apple" PC in 30 days Jack Sams of IBM approaches Microsoft concerning providing software for the forthcoming IBM PC
September, 1980	Digital Research loses opportunity to provide CP/M operating system for the IBM PC
November, 1980	IBM contracts Microsoft to provide all software for the forthcoming IBM PC
1981	Microsoft revenues at $16 million, employment tops 100 Microsoft reorganizes from a partnership to a privately held corporation
January 6, 1981	Microsoft obtains nonexclusive right to market 86-QDOS from Seattle Computer
May 1, 1981	Tim Paterson, original writer of 86-QDOS, is hired by Microsoft from Seattle Computer Products
June, 1981	XEROX debuts the Star PC, an upgraded version of its Alto PC with a greatly enhanced Graphical User Interface(GUI). Initial price is $16,595. Microsoft is one of the first buyers, spending $100,000 on the PC and accompanying laser printer.
July 27, 1981	Microsoft purchases rights to 86-QDOS from Seattle Computer Products for $50,000
August 12, 1981	IBM announces the IBM PC to the press. The IBM PC operates using MS-DOS 1.0. Its initial price is $1,565.
December, 1981	Since August, IBM sells 13,533 personal computers, resulting in $43 million in revenues
1982	Lotus Development Corporation is founded by Mitch Kapor
January, 1982	Reagan administration drops antitrust suit against IBM
March 1, 1982	Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
Summer, 1982	Microsoft debuts its Multiplan spreadsheet product, ported to run on multiple platforms
November, 1982	Lotus debuts 1-2-3 spreadsheet at Comdex. Since it was designed specifically for the latest IBM PC and it's 256K of memory, it outperformed both VisiCalc and Microsoft's Multiplan.
December, 1982	Microsoft's revenues at $34 million, employment tops 200
January, 1983	Time magazine selects the PC as "Machine of the Year" rather than selecting a "Man of the Year" Compaq Computer Corporation debuts the first IBM PC-compatible machine, the beginning of the "clones"
January 19, 1983	Apple debuts the Apple IIe PC for $1,395
March, 1983	IBM announces the IBM PC/XT (eXtended Technology). With a 10MB hard disk, 360K floppy disk drive, and 128K of RAM, the machine is priced at $4,995. Microsoft releases MS-DOS 2.0 for the IBM PC/XT with 20,000 lines of code (LOC) as compared to MS-DOS 1.0's 4,000 LOC.
September, 1983	Microsoft debuts Microsoft Word for MS-DOS 1.0
November, 1983	Microsoft debuts graphical extension to MS-DOS called Windows
December, 1983	Apple releases the Apple III+ PC By end of 1983, IBM has sold more than 500,000 PCs since they were announced
January 22, 1984	Apple Computer airs infamous "1984" commercial for its Macintosh PC during the Super Bowl. The Macintosh will be released two days later at an initial price of $2,495.