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Important and early DS, signed “William H. Gates" and "Steven A. Ballmer,” 12 pages, 9 x 11.5, October 29, 1982. License agreement for Project Management System between Microsoft Consumer Products (A Division of Microsoft Corporation) and MAS (Micro Application Services), which grants Microsoft the exclusive worldwide rights to produce, market, and sell a computer program called Multipert, which is defined in Exhibit A. Tipped into the agreement is the referenced “Exhibit A,” a 10-page supplemental document issued for the software program Multipert, which contains a preliminary functional specification of the product, and concludes with a two-page addendum to “License Agreement for Project Management System dated October 29, 1982, Clarification of clause VIII.2.ii,” both pages of which are signed at the bottom in blue ink by Steve Ballmer as Vice President of Microsoft Marketing, and countersigned by Ron Bredehoeft as president of MAS. Signed and dated at the conclusion of the agreement proper in blue ballpoint by Bill Gates as Microsoft’s executive vice president, and countersigned by Bredehoeft.
Exhibit A, entitled “Specification for Multipert,” reads: “Multipert is a software program that allows the user to plan and organise jobs by breaking them into activities and structuring them. The initial version of the program will be written in the Lattice version of the C language and will run under MS-DOS, primarily on the IBM Personal Computer. A subsequent version will then be written in the Microsoft version of the C language.
The program will make extensive use of the standard Microsoft developed user-interface, and will remain as close as possible to this standard. It will also make use of the SYLK file format and will have the ability to communicate meaningful information with other Multi Tools such as Multiplan. Such communication capabilities shall be developed in good faith between the parties during the development cycle.” The document is housed in its original Microsoft folder, which bears some doodles to the front. In fine condition.
Dated October 29, 1982, this fascinating license agreement predates and directly aligns with the early development of what became Microsoft Project. At the time, Microsoft was actively building its ‘MultiTool’ line of productivity software for the IBM PC and MS-DOS, which included early program versions of Word, Chart, and Multiplan, the precursor to Excel. Within that same effort, the proposed “Multipert” program was envisioned as a project management tool to organize and schedule tasks. The idea originated with Ron Bredehoeft, a former IBM S/E and PC enthusiast in the early 1980s, who created an early scheduling program written in C for the IBM PC. His company, MAS, entered an OEM agreement with Microsoft, which refined the prototype software internally under Alan M. Boyd, shaping the foundation for Microsoft Project.
This Multipert agreement, signed by the company’s principal leaders – Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer – appears to document one of Microsoft’s first formal attempts to secure or license project management technology from an outside developer. It illustrates Microsoft’s relentless push for innovation, efforts that would soon culminate in the release of Microsoft Project in 1984. That software went on to become one of the most enduring and influential project management tools in business history.
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