In 1978, coder Bill Greenberg summoned a local radio show and won a free portrait after correctly guessing the name of the assassinated president. At the time, he used the award to take professional photos of his workplace: a clumsy startup called Microsoft (MSFT), preparing to upgrade its headquarters from New Mexico to Washington. At that time, Microsoft was still a software company that started. Its twelve founded employees with proper pleasing clothing and facial hair, unaware that their company will be the $2.8 trillion technology powerhouse today.
Microsoft happened to be founded 50 years ago by Bill Gates and Paul Allen (childhood friends) who initially established the company to develop software for the personal computer Altair 8800. They eventually entered the operating system business and released the Windows interface in 1985, followed by a pioneering distribution of the pioneering Office Software and Internet Explorer Browser. However, most of its initial employees left the company just a few years after they were founded in the mid-1990s.
The company's original staff eventually reunited in 2008, recreating their current styling portraits. “It really captures the time and the spirit we are in the office. You're all smiling. We're all having fun,” said Allen, who passed away in 2018.
Fifty years later, here is what exactly is Microsoft's original employee today:
Bill Gates, co-founder
Bill Gates was a 20-year-old Harvard dropout when he decided to launch Microsoft with Allen. He served as CEO until 2000 and was involved in its daily operations until 2008. Currently, this is the world's first rich man with an estimated net worth of $107.4 billion, and Gates has spent most of these days working at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated $77.6 billion and donated $77.6 billion in charitable grants.
Paul Allen, co-founder (deceased)
Paul Allen first met the gate in the 1960s when the two attended Lakeside School in Seattle. Until 1983, he served as Microsoft's chief technology expert due to health problems. His other businesses have accumulated $200.3 billion in wealth, including investments through his Vulcan Inc holdings and ownership of sports teams such as the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. Allen also donated more than $2.6 billion to initiatives in art, conservation and medical research throughout his life. He died in 2018 due to complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Technological writer Andrea Lewis
In 1977, Andrea Lewis wrote the documents explaining Microsoft's products in 1977, and six years later, it was reported that stock options were reportedly worth $2 million. She then settled in Seattle, Washington, and worked as a freelance writer and journalist. In 1994, Lewis co-founded the city's Hugo House, a nonprofit literary and artistic center.
Marla Wood, Bookkeeper (deceased)
Marla Wood was hired as an administrative assistant and bookkeeper by Microsoft in 1976 along with her husband Steve Wood. The two left the company in 1980, and Marla Wood subsequently filed a sexist lawsuit against Microsoft, which was eventually resolved. The couple lives in Bellevue, Washington, with an estimated net worth of $15 million. Wood, who later volunteered, died in 2022 due to cancer complications.
Steve Wood, General Manager
Steve Wood, the other half of the married couple of Microsoft, served as general manager for four years. He continued to work for Starwave and Interval Research, two other companies founded by Allen and then in 1996, the mobile messaging company Wireless Services. Wood is currently a volunteer firefighter and partner with Airnote, a technology company, his LinkedIn said.
Bob O'Rear, chief mathematician
Bob O'Rear, the seventh employee of Microsoft, worked at NASA as the company's chief mathematician. In addition to studying programming languages, he also helped Microsoft build personal computers for IBM in the 1980s. O'Rear retired from the company in 1993 with a net worth of approximately $100 million. Now he runs a cattle ranch in Texas and serves on the advisory board of his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, where he convinced the gate to do fundraising for the new computer science building.
Bob Greenberg, programmer
Greenberg was an early programmer at Microsoft and was an employee who secured the company's now famous portrait of the 1970s. He left Microsoft in 1981 and helped his family, Coleco, launch its popular Cabbage Patch Kids toy line. Greenberg was worth $20 million at the beginning of this century and as of 2008, he was a venture capitalist.
Marc McDonald, software designer
Marc McDonald became Microsoft's first paid employee ever in 1976. He left in 1984 because it “became a big company” and he wanted to try something else. Ironically, he later worked on software company design intelligence, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2000, meaning McDonald's once again worked for his original employer. McDonald, who rejoined Microsoft, had a net worth of $1 million, stayed in 2016 in 2011, working on advertising startup paper until 2016.
Gordon Letwin, programmer
Gordon Letwin was one of the company’s original programmers, playing a leading role in the OS/2 computer operating system developed by Microsoft and IBM. Letwin, described by Gates as an excellent programmer and an unusual programmer, left Microsoft in 1993 and had a ranch in Arizona as of 2000 with a net worth of $20 million.
Bob Wallace, programmer (deceased)
Bob Wallace became Microsoft's ninth employee when he was hired as a production manager and software engineer in 1978. He used Microsoft's stock to be worth up to $15 million in a certain era in 1983, and later established another software company called QuickSoft. Wallace also funded the Promind Foundation to explore science and education efforts related to psychedelic technology. He died of pneumonia in 2002.
Project Manager Jim Lane
Jim Lane, who served as Microsoft project manager, joined the startup in 1978 and in particular helped it form a partnership with Intel. He stayed at Microsoft until 1985, and later founded his own software company, with an estimated wealth of $20 million.
Receptionist Miriam Lubow (deceased)
Miriam Lubow was not photographed in Microsoft's 1978 portrait because she was bound by a snowstorm that day. But the company's office administrator was a key member of the company's initial team, and her colleagues were emotionally called “Mom”. Although she did not join other Microsoft areas during the company's initial move to Washington, Lubow rejoined the team in 1981 and worked there for a decade. She also reportedly sold the company's shares early because her husband did not believe in the computer's promise at the time. Lubow died of liver cancer in 2008.
