Microsoft was founded in 1975 after Gates and Allen wrote a BASIC interpreter for the Altair

science & techWikipedia1975 · Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Microsoft was founded in 1975 after Gates and Allen wrote a BASIC interpreter for the Altair

the gist

Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on 4 April 1975, after the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured the Altair 8800 microcomputer. Allen realised the machine could run a BASIC interpreter, and Gates told the maker, MITS, that he had one ready. They wrote a simulator and the interpreter, then demonstrated it in Albuquerque in March 1975, and MITS agreed to sell it as Altair BASIC. Allen suggested the name Micro-Soft, short for microcomputer software. In 1980 IBM hired the company to provide an operating system, and Microsoft's MS-DOS became the foundation of its dominance as IBM PC compatibles spread.

how it works

A BASIC interpreter translates a simple programming language into instructions a computer can run, so people can write programs without learning machine code. Selling one interpreter to many machines made the software more valuable than any single hardware sale.

so what

Microsoft's early success came from owning the software that many different hardware makers needed, not from building computers. That model shaped the modern software industry and explains how a small company became central to the personal computer boom.

the bigger pattern

Platform companies often win by controlling software that others depend on, as Microsoft did with DOS and later Windows. The same logic drove later platforms such as app stores.

fun fact

The company's name was suggested by Paul Allen as a shortening of micro-computer software.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗