The First Computer War - Computing Gets Personal | 6

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2018

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After all that IBM has been through over the decades, it would have never in a million years guessed that their undoing would be at the hands of a scrawny and unknown computer nerd named Bill Gates. Gates sees the future, but can IBM catch up? Will they still be on top 50 years from now? Only time will tell.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members. You can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:07.6	It is a hot and humid day in Boca Raton, Florida at the end of September in 1980.
0:14.4	Bill Gates suddenly panics. He has to find a tie in a hurry.
0:19.5	Gates is in a rented car with Paul Allen. The two are co-founders of a tiny startup called Microsoft
0:26.2	based in Bellevue, Washington.
0:28.6	They've just arrived here by plane to meet with IBM's top secret group that's developing a personal computer.
0:36.0	They're working in a curved, low-slung office building next to a man-made lake.
0:41.4	Gates and Allen drive from the airport and it occurs to Gates that men at IBM always wear ties.
0:48.9	Gates, who is 25, but looks 15 with his skinny frame and mop of blonde hair,
0:54.4	isn't sure he even owns a tie and he certainly doesn't have one with him.
1:00.2	It is vitally important to impress the biggest computer company on earth to make them understand
1:06.6	the tiny Microsoft will be a responsible trustworthy partner. Gates instructs Allen a beefy, heavily-bearded
1:14.2	technical whiz two years his senior to look for a clothing store. Allen spots them all.
1:20.2	They pull over. Gates rushes in and buys the first tie he sees. Then he hops back in the car
1:26.6	and the two of them race to make the meeting on time. They're greeted by an IBM executive named Jack
1:32.5	Sam's and his team. They're all wearing ties. You know, Jack, two months ago when you came by to
1:39.6	see us for the first time, I remember you said, don't get too excited and don't think anything big
1:45.0	is about to happen. Now I know you were lying. I suppose so, but I had to be careful. We didn't
1:51.2	yet understand what was going on between Microsoft and digital research. In fact, Gates is here because
1:57.0	he is totally screwed as old friends at digital research. Gates goes on. Well, we're here to clear
2:03.3	that up and show you the operating system we've got for your PC or I'm sorry for project chess.
2:09.4	That's your code name for this, right? Yes, that's that's right. Let's get on with it. We don't
	...

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