Microsoft originally supplied BASIC to the Altair 8800.
In 1975, Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Monte Davidoff developed Altair BASIC for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer based on the Intel 8080 processor. Microsoft licensed the interpreter to MITS, the Altair’s manufacturer.
The product was important because it made programming the Altair more accessible than writing machine code. It also gave the young Microsoft a commercial starting point in the emerging microcomputer industry.
BASIC was not exclusive to Microsoft; the language had been created earlier at Dartmouth College. Microsoft’s version became especially influential because it was adapted for many home computers and later appeared in forms such as GW-BASIC and Visual Basic.