Without Bill Gates, today’s Apple probably wouldn’t exist! Lets go back to Aug 6th, 1997 …

In 1997, Microsoft rescued one-time and future nemesis Apple with a $150 million investment that breathe new life into a struggling Silicon Alley icon.

In a remarkable feat of negotiating legerdemain, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs got the much-needed cash, in return for non-voting shares, and an assurance that Microsoft would support Office for the Mac for five years.

Microsoft would invest $150 million in Apple ans also promised to continue publishing Office for Mac for another five years, which Apple badly needed to survive. Apple then was losing money, and Microsoft killing Office for Mac looked to be the final blow. On conclusion of this understanding, Apple and Microsoft announced the end of legal hostilities.

And while the fans didn’t exactly know what to make of the new friendship between the corporate equivalents of a mongoose and a cobra, their instinct was, of course, to be against it. As reported at the time by The Seattle Times, “The unexpected revelation … prompted gasps of disbelief and loud boos from the audience of thousands of Mac users and software developers.”

Jobs, the Times reported, “attempted to soothe the audience, saying: ‘We have to let go of a few notions here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft needs to lose.’”

This is a story some have forgotten, some would like to forget and some who are still in a state of denial!

Do watch the video!

Addl details at Wired.

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