April 4, 1975
Microsoft Corporation founded on April 4, 1975—Albuquerque, NM.
Apple Computer Company founded on April 1, 1976—Cupertino, CA.
"They were energized by the arrival of the January 1975 issue of Popular Mechanics, which had on its cover the first personal computer kit, the Altair.
The Altair wasn't much—just a $495 pile of parts that had to be soldered to aboard that would then do little—but for hobbyists and hackers it heralded the dawn of a new era.
BiLL Gates and Paul Allen read the magazine and started working on a version of BASIC, an easy-to-use programming language, for the Altair.
It also caught the attention of Jobs and Wozniak.
And when an Altair kit arrived at the People's Computer Company, it became the centerpiece for the first meeting of the club that French and Moore had decided to launch"
- per the book STEVE JOBS by WALTER ISAACSON Page no. 59 Excerpt