The year was 1979. From the introduction of the famous Happy Meal to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, it was undoubtedly a busy year on social, political, and economic fronts. During that period, Microsoft had stopped being a "small and medium-sized enterprise" moving its offices from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington. Photographer John L. Marshall had access to the new facilities and managed to capture an excellent series of photographs.
There is always something special about studying the origins of a company. Perhaps now they are ruthless multinational titans, but it's very likely that at the beginning their founders knew hunger, constant lack of money, and day-to-day survival.
In the '70s, available tools were limited (always speaking from a computer science point of view), but something tells me there were more opportunities. Today, competition is brutal, and when a novel project emerges, two things happen: either it receives lawsuits until it's reduced to dust, or it's absorbed by a giant that pays billions without flinching.
The Move to Bellevue
In November 1979, Microsoft had already completed its move from Albuquerque to Bellevue. The company occupied the eighth floor of what was the Old National Bank. If you study the map of the area closely, you'll see that Bellevue is right next to Redmond, the city where Microsoft has its headquarters today. What brings us here is the work of photographer John L. Marshall.
The People and the Hardware
Microsoft had been on the market for over four years, and it wasn't exactly an unknown company. Marshall received total access to the facilities, and there he had the privilege of photographing true legends: Steve and Marla Wood, Andrea Lewis, Bob Wallace, Bob O'Rear, Jim Lane, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, and of course Bill Gates are some we can observe, but Marshall hasn't managed to identify them all.
I think the most colorful detail appears in the last group of photos. Those with a trained eye will surely have recognized the DECSystem-2020 platform with which Microsoft developed its software. It seems unbelievable that the first products of the giant came out of such a system, but in those times it offered the best cost-performance ratio. Without a doubt, an exceptional glimpse into the intimacy of one of the computing giants in its beginnings. Below you have many more photographs. Enjoy them!
Photographs from Microsoft's 1979 Offices
