40 years ago this month, the first PC that used the MSX platform launched. It was very popular in many markets outside the US, and Microsoft even had a small but important role in its development.
We have written articles in the past year about some of Microsoft’s different product launches, like how its first real hardware device was an add-in card for the Apple II, or its not-so-smartwatch platform, SPOT. However, many people may not be aware that Microsoft had a small involvement in a movement to create a standardized PC platform that evolved into a huge video game platform in Japan.
The platform is called MSX, and on October 21, 1983, just over 40 years ago, the first such PC that used the platform went on sale in Japan, the Mitsubishi ML-8000. The launch price for the PC was 59,800 yen or close to $400.
The story of the MSX platform began in Japan several years prior to the launch of that first PC. Kazuhiko Nishi, formed ASCII Corporation in 1978 to publish computer games. He also met with then-22-year-old Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that same year. The two became fast friends, which led to ASCII becoming the agent of Microsoft in Japan.
Wired reports that, according to Nishi, he was a factor in one of Gates’ biggest early decisions at Microsoft:
Nishi was at Microsoft when an invitation arrived from IBM to provide an operating system for a new personal computer.
