"In 1980, Microsoft was a small software vendor that had built its business primarily on downsizing computer languages created for mainframes to a point where they could be used to program the desktop computers that were then coming to market. In that year, its total revenues were $7,520, 720, and BASIC, its first product, was still its most successful. In contrast, Apple computer had sales of $100 million in the same year, and launched the largest public offering since the Ford Motor Company had itself gone public in 1956.
"Moreover, years before Microsoft Word conquered the desktop, word processing products like WordStar and WordPerfect became popular PC-based tools, providing low-cost alternatives to the proprietary minicomputer based software offerings of vendors like Wang Laboratories..."
