Microsoft’s 48th birthday bash: A week of 80s nostalgia

What you need to know

• Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in New Mexico with an occasionally hyphenated variant of its name.
• Current CEO Satya Nadella has headed Microsoft since February 4, 2014.
• Celebrating its 48th birthday, Microsoft announced a week-long celebration on Twitter, themed around the 1980s.

Microsoft officially turns 48 years old today, celebrating its original founding on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Announcing a week-long celebration on Twitter (opens in new tab), a collection of 1980s-themed throwbacks is planned to mark the occasion. Plenty of significant milestones were hit during the 80s under the somewhat heavy metal-inspired logo that looks a little striking compared to the subtle designs of today.

Striking a partnership with IBM at the beginning of the decade, Microsoft moved from its stance as an interpreter for the high-level BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) language to creating a fully-fledged operating system. Windows 1.0 might have been released to somewhat mediocre fanfare in 1985, but there’s no doubting the success of its follow-ups, dominating market share for desktops and laptops (but alas, not phones. RIP Windows Phone.)