allen, paul

It all started on a snowy day in December 1974. After buying the new issue of Popular Electronics in Harvard Square, Paul Allen rushed to show it to his best friend from Seattle, Bill Gates. The magazine's cover story featured the Altair 8800, the first true personal computer. Allen knew that he and Gates had the skills to code a programming language for a personal computer. Much has been written about Microsoft's early years but no one can tell the real story except Allen and Gates.

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen reflects on his life, discussing his work in technology, science, business, sports, and philanthropy; sharing stories of his failures and triumphs; and detailing the lessons he has learned.

Describes the history and development of Microsoft, covering the founders and how they got it started, the early deal with IBM that got MS-DOS going, the challenges and personality conflicts, the winning strategy, the open-source threat, and more.