50 years after the founding of Microsoft, Bill Gates has now published the entire source code of Altair Basic, the software that laid the foundations for the billion-dollar company. To this day ...

In the 1970s, Gates and his Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, used a computer in Harvard's lab to compose what he calls the 'coolest code I've written.' It's now public for the first time.

To mark the occasion, Gates has released the source code he and Allen wrote for the Altair 8800 – dubbed Altair BASIC – which became the company's first product.

And the fun isn't over yet! To commemorate the special occasion, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates has joined the fray and shared the source code that shaped the company's origins — Altair BASIC.

Altair Basic was developed by Gates, fellow Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and programmer Monte Davidoff. The trio reportedly coded “day and night for two months” in 1975.