IBM Signed Away DOS to Microsoft in 1980. It Built a $678B Rent Machine

On June 7, 2000, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ordered Microsoft split into two companies - operating systems in one, applications in the other. The court had found its share of Intel-compatible PC operating systems above 90% for a decade, at least 95% in the late nineties. In July 2026, the company that was supposed to be cut in half reported $331.8 billion of revenue, Azure past $100 billion a year, and $678 billion of signed contracts it hasn't recognized as revenue yet. Microsoft is not really in the business of selling software. It charges recurring rent on the computing layer enterprises can't remove - and that model was locked in by one clause in the December 1980 IBM contract, which took PC DOS on a one-time, non-exclusive license and left Microsoft free to sell MS-DOS to every other manufacturer. Windows, Office, Azure and Copilot are the same trick, one floor at a time. In this documentary: the Lakeside School computer room in 1968, Traf-O-Data and the $16,005 first year in Albuquerque, the IBM contract and the $40 price tag that decided the standard, Office shipping on the Mac before it needed Windows, the DOJ case and the breakup that got thrown out on appeal, Nadella putting Office on the iPad in 2014, and the FY2026 math where Service and other brings $267.143 billion against $64.696 billion of Product. CHAPTERS 0:00 A judge orders Microsoft cut in two 1:35 Origins: one teletype terminal, Seattle 1968 6:30 The Struggle: $16,005 and copied paper tapes 11:41 The Turning Point: the non-exclusive DOS clause 17:26 Scale: Allen exits, Windows 3.0 takes over 23:00 The Crisis: 90% share and a breakup order 28:39 Legacy: $331.8B and rent stacked on rent Origins of Giants tells how the world's biggest companies actually began. Subscribe for the next one. #Microsoft #BillGates #Documentary