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In 1977 Bill Gates was actually 22. Microsoft's 1977 year end sales were $500k and it had five employees. It started selling its second language product (FORTRAN) in July of that year. The full video is at For more on 1977 see:
Microsoft sold its BASIC product to MITS (the manufacturer of the Altair personal computer) in February of 1975. The Open Letter to Hobbyists was sent in 1976. For more on what was going on with Microsoft, computers and software that year see:
A video about what would become Microsoft in 1975 is here: Bill Gates was 20 that year.
How did I know Bill Gates was 22 and not 21 in 1977? I was also born in 1955. My 22nd year was the last time in my life I was able to focus primarily on snow and water skiing. Bill and I had similar haircuts that year though. By 1978 I was obliged to clean up my appearance. ;-/
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