Bill Gates announces big gift for techies, shares coolest code he has ever written for Microsoft, is free for anyone to download

As Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary, co-founder Bill Gates is taking a walk down memory lane—and inviting the world to join him. In a blog post shared on April 2, Gates announced that he’s releasing the original source code for Microsoft’s first-ever product. Calling it “the coolest code” he’s ever written, Gates is offering a rare look at the early days of one of the world’s biggest tech companies.

Gates reflected on the journey that began half a century ago, thanking key figures like Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, and countless Microsoft employees over the years. “Making it 50 years is a huge accomplishment,” he wrote, “and we couldn’t have done it without incredible leaders and a passionate team.”

He also described the moment as “bittersweet.” Gates and his friend Paul Allen were just teenagers in 1975 when they started working on code for a new personal computer called the Altair 8800. After seeing the machine featured in Popular Electronics magazine, the duo excitedly contacted the company behind it, claiming they had already built a version of the BASIC programming language for it.

The truth? They hadn’t written a single line yet.

But that didn’t stop them. Gates and Allen spent two intense months working on what would become known as Altair BASIC. Their risk paid off—the code worked, the company MITS was impressed, and Microsoft (then spelled “Micro-Soft”) was officially born.

To celebrate this milestone, Gates is not only sharing the historic code but also posting never-before-seen photos from Microsoft’s early days. These images give fans and tech lovers a glimpse into the humble beginnings of a company that went on to change the world.