Z-80 SoftCard
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The Z-80 SoftCard, later known as the Microsoft SoftCard, was a plug-in card from Microsoft for use with the Apple II personal computer. Due to the built in Zilog Z-80 CPU It enabled the Apple II to run the CP/M operating system. This made it possible to run a much wider range of business software on the Apple II than before[citation needed], as CP/M was an industry standard operating system at the time. A copy of the Microsoft BASIC programming language was included in the SoftCard package[citation needed], a move by Microsoft which may have helped them gain publicity in the days before being contracted by IBM to develop MS-DOS.
[edit] Development
The card was jointly developed between Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products[1] (who developed the initial prototypes), a young Bill Gates[citation needed] and Don Burdis of Microsoft[citation needed]. It was first demonstrated publicly at the West Coast Computer Faire in March 1980[citation needed].
[edit] Sales
There were an unprecedented 5,000 of these cards purchased in the initial three months[citation needed] and the card sold very well for several years.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Allen, Roy A. (2001). A History of the Personal Computer: The People and the Technology. Allen Publishing. ISBN 0968910807.

