More than just a ragtag group of bearded weirdos assembled for a family portrait in Albuquerque, this gaggle of amazingly retro folks is responsible for creating Microsoft.
Maybe you spotted a precocious Bill Gates in the lower left? Look at that killer head of hair!
The photo was taken just before the then-startup left Albuquerque for Seattle. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft couldn't find anyone willing to move to New Mexico.
Early employee Bob Greenberg, pictured in the middle, won the free portrait after calling in to a radio show and guessing the name of an assassinated president. The gang gathered together in some of their finest late-'70s attire, and an American business legend was born.
Most of us know what happened with the two guys in the bottom left and bottom right corners — Bill Gates, and Paul Allen. But what about the rest? Let's dig in!
Jay Yarow contributed to an earlier version of this story.
Bill Gates is now giving away the billions he made from Microsoft
We all know what happened with this guy: Bill Gates founded and built Microsoft from nothing into the most valuable technology company in the world. Along the way he amassed a fortune, which he's now giving away to all sorts of good causes through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Andrea Lewis became a fiction writer and freelance journalist
Andrea Lewis was the only person at the company that was from Albuquerque. She was a technical writer for Microsoft, which meant she wrote documents explaining Microsoft's software. She left Microsoft in 1983, eventually becoming a freelance journalist and fiction writer. Thanks in part to her Microsoft options, her net worth was estimated at $2 million by the AP.
Maria Wood sued Microsoft just two years later
Maria Wood was a book keeper for Microsoft, and married to another one of the early Microsofties in the picture. She left the company just two years later, suing it for sexual discrimination. Microsoft settled the case. After that, she raised her children and became a volunteer.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider