Discover the epic feud between Bill Gates and Paul Allen that broke their billion-dollar friendship. Learn about the untold story of one of the biggest rivalries in tech history.
Explore the billion-dollar feud between Bill Gates and Paul Allen that ultimately broke their friendship. Find out more about the history between these two tech giants in this captivating video.Discover the billion-dollar feud between Bill Gates and Paul Allen that broke a friendship. Learn more about Paul Allen and his impact on the tech industry in this intriguing video! #PAULALLENWho is Paul Allen?Before movies were made about how Mark Zuckerberg screwed his best friend out of billions of dollars. (The Social Network) if I were to ask you who created Microsoft many people would rightfully say Bill Gates but Bill Gates was only one half of the reason behind Microsoft’s success. Bill Gates started Microsoft with his high school best friend Paul Allen in fact it was Allen who convinced Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard and start a computer software company. The boy's passion extended beyond programming mischief while in high school the pair started a company called Traf-O-Data. Traf-O-Data was a computer program that they built for the local government that provided traffic analysis and recommended solutions for traffic problems. While Traf-O-Data ultimately wasn't a commercial success, the experience taught them valuable lessons about entrepreneurship and laid the groundwork for their future endeavors. Paul Allen who was 2 years ahead of Gates would graduate and attend Washington State University, two years later Gates would graduate and choose to study over 3000 miles away in Boston at the prestigious Harvard University.Gates would finally be convinced to drop out when one day Paul Allen came storming into his room holding up an issue of the popular electronics magazine. On the cover was the Altair 8800 one of the first personal computers ever made, Allen told Gates the Altair represented everything they used to talk about when they were younger, Gates and Allen always knew that sometime in the future computers were going to go mainstream, that time in the future was happening right before their eyes and there were not apart of it. So Gates gave in to Allen’s persuasion and dropped out. The pair brimming with excitement contacted ED Roberts the CEO of MITS to get a meeting to pitch their version of Basic for the Altair 8800,By the end of 1978, Microsoft had 13 employees and its first international office was founded in Japan. Then, in January of 1979, Microsoft moved to Seattle Washington, where Paul Allen oversaw Microsoft’s technical operations as the Chief Technologist. In 1980 Paul Allen spearheaded the creation of the Microsoft Softcard which allowed incompatible software to run smoothly on Apple 2 computers. The Softcards were very successful and grew Microsoft's business. 1980 was a particularly important year for Microsoft with Paul Allen famously saying “Before 1980, Microsoft was an important software company. After 1980, it was the essential one.” What happened that year was the deal between Microsoft and IBM for licensing of an operating system for the upcoming IBM computer, Paul Allen played a pivotal role in the negotiations and helped to secure the right to sell the operating system to other computer vendors. Led by Paul Allen, Microsoft was able to deliver on IBM’s lofty demands and aggressive timetable for an operating system the result of which was MS-DOS. MS-DOS cemented Microsoft’s future as a titan of the computer industry and laid the foundation for its future dominance. And Paul Allen was the man behind the creation of this giant. It was even Paul Allen who came up with the name Microsoft, not Bill Gates. In his memoir, Paul Allen said he was the person who came up with all the great ideas and Gates would make them happen. In other words, Allen was the visionary behind Microsoft and Gates was the savvy businessman and salesman. Unfortunately in 1983 a mere 8 years after the founding of Microsoft Paul Allen had to resign from his position as had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Gates and Allen were known to work insane hours in the early days of Microsoft often pulling many all-nighters, this lifestyle had begun taking a toll on Allen and he had to take a step back and this is where the trouble began in the relationship between Gates and Allen.Paul Allen The Idea ManLer's see Paul Allen's card