Bill Gates, Tandy coverboy

while rummaging through some old magazines, i came upon the December, 1984 issue of BYTE magazine. staring back at me from the back cover was William H. Gates III, sitting in front of a Tandy computer, running the first issue of MS-Windows. the picture being one of the silliest i had ever seen of the richest man in the world, combined with his personal endorsement of a Tandy product, made me laugh out loud.

bill gates and his tandy 2000

“Designing a revolutionary concept in software demanded a computer with extraordinary performance. The Tandy 2000 delivered.”
— Bill Gates
Chairman of the Board,
Microsoft

Bill Gates has been at the leading edge of personal computing from the very beginning. His company is a leading producer of microcomputer software.

“Our newest software product, MS-Windows, is an integrated windowing environment. It will let personal computer users combine individual programs into a powerful, integrated system.

“When we set out to design MS-Windows in color, we knew that the Tandy 2000 computer would let us turn an extraordinary product into a work of art. The graphics are sharp and crisp, and gave us a degree of creativity like nothing before.

“Our engineers were quite impressed with the processing speed of the Tandy 2000’s 80186 microprocessor, too. And while the finished product will utilize the 2000’s Digi-Mouse, the well-laid out keyboard has helped us speed through the design stage.

“We’re proud of our work. So when we want to show someone how great MS-Windows really is, we give them a demonstration. On the Tandy 2000.”

Isn’t it time you enjoyed peak performance from a personal computer? Go ahead, watch how much faster today’s most sophisticated programs run on the high-technology Tandy 2000.


of note:

the screenshot has windows running in 16 colors(?), showing ‘reversi’ (othello), a file browser, a calculator, and a representation of a 5x5x5 color cube on the screen.

the copyright at the bottom shows ‘MS’ as a trademark of microsoft, this was before they trademarked ‘windows’. ‘windows’ was considered a generic term.

windows is a ‘windowing environment’ not an operating system.

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