Then and now: what happened to the first Microsoft employees since the 1978 photo

Microsoft is one of the most legendary American companies, and this is one of the most legendary group shots of the collective. A motley youth gathered for a group photo like a family one. It was in Albuquerque in 1978. If you saw this picture on Facebook or LinkedIn, would you invest money in such a company? The question is controversial. Surely you would have answered "no" right away, because — well, just look at them! On the other hand, then it turns out that this is a group portrait of the Microsoft team.

One of the first employees of the company, Bob Greenberg, pictured in the center, won the opportunity to take a group photo in the studio by calling the radio and guessing the name of the murdered president in a quiz. A company of colleagues gathered, dressed up in the best, and an American business legend was born. Most people know what happened to the two guys in the lower left and lower right corners of the picture — Bill Gates and Paul Allen. But what happened to the others?

Source: Business Insider

Bill Gates gives away the billions he earned at Microsoft

Everyone knows what happened to this guy. Bill Gates built Microsoft from scratch and turned it into the most expensive technology company. At the same time, he became the richest man in the world and is now donating his fortune to all sorts of good causes.

Andrea Lewis became a freelance writer and journalist

Andrea Lewis was the company's only employee from Albuquerque. She was a technical writer at Microsoft, that is, she wrote documentation with explanations for the company's software. She quit Microsoft in 1983 and became a freelance journalist and writer. She owns part of the Hugo House Literary Center in Seattle.

Maria Wood sued Microsoft two years later

Maria Wood was a Microsoft accountant and married another of the company's first employees, also pictured in the photo. She quit two years later, suing the company for sexual discrimination. Microsoft settled the matter peacefully. After that, Wood disappeared from the public spotlight, raising children and periodically working as a volunteer.

Paul Allen has spent his billions on sports teams, startups and more

Paul Allen is the most famous person in the photo after Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder ranks 40th in the ranking of the richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine. He owns the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team, the Seattle Seahawks football club, one of the world's largest yachts and other interesting assets.

Bob O'Rear became a cattle farmer

Bob O'Rear was one of the most senior Microsoft employees. He was working at NASA's Mission control center when American astronauts landed on the moon. At Microsoft, he held the position of chief mathematician, and he is credited with the merit of processing the code in DOS and optimizing it for IBM personal computers. He left the company in 1993, moved to his native Texas and started raising livestock.

Bob Greenberg left Microsoft and worked for a doll company, Cabbage Patch Kids

It was Bob Greenberg who won the radio quiz, thanks to which this group photo appeared. He left Microsoft in 1981, and before that he participated in the development of a new version of the Basic programming language. After that, he helped the Coleco family company create Cabbage Patch Kid dolls, which were a huge success. In 2008, he was developing software for golf courses.

Mark McDonald left Microsoft because the company became too big, but he still returned to it

Mark McDonald was the first employee to receive a salary, and he quit in 1984 because he didn't like how big the company was getting. After leaving Microsoft, he got a job at another company under the leadership of Paul Allen — Azimetrix. Then he got into the Seattle—based software company Design Intelligence, which Microsoft bought in 2000. So MacDonald was back at Microsoft. In 2011, he quit the company for the second time and now works at the startup Thunder, which develops marketing software.

Gordon Letwin stayed at Microsoft the longest, not counting Bill Gates

Gordon Letwin worked at the company until 1993, almost the longest of anyone who was in the picture (Gates was the longest). Letwin was a programmer at Microsoft and left when he wanted to take a break from the grueling workdays at the company. Letwin now has a ranch in Arizona and runs the environmental charity Wilburforce Foundation with his wife Rose.

Steve Wood founded Wireless Services Corporation

Steve Wood is the husband of Maria Wood, who quit Microsoft and sued for sexual discrimination. Steve left the company in 1980, but after that he collaborated with Paul Allen on several other projects. He is an enthusiastic businessman who now owns a software consulting company called Airnote and moonlights as a volunteer in the fire brigade.

Bob Wallace was a fan of psychedelic drug research, and also founded a software company after working at Microsoft

It seems that Bob Wallace was the most detached from reality of the first Microsoft employees. After leaving the company, he spent time and money researching psychedelic drugs. In addition, he founded a software company called Quicksoft. Bob died in 2002 from pneumonia.

Jim Lane has created his own software company

Jim Lane worked as a project manager and retired in 1985. According to rumors, he announced his dismissal, saying that Microsoft had knocked all the enthusiasm out of him. Jim founded his own company, which was also engaged in the production of software. While working at Microsoft, he helped establish a vital partnership for the company with Intel, without which Microsoft would not have been able to become a leader in the personal computer market.

At the top is the same picture from 1978, and at the bottom is the same one, recreated in 2008, when Bill Gates left the company.

Gates has since handed over the CEO position to Microsoft's 30th employee, Steve Ballmer. He, in turn, handed over the reins to the board of Satya Nadella in 2014. Of the first galaxy of employees, only Bill Gates remained in the company, and then as the executive head of the board of directors and adviser to Nadella.