Z-80 SoftCard

Raymond Chen, a developer at Microsoft, discussed the company's first hardware product, the Z-80 SoftCard, launched in 1980 for Apple II users. The SoftCard allowed access to CP/M software but faced development challenges, requiring complex coding and hardware adaptations. It integrated the Z80 processor with the Apple II's 6502 processor, necessitating innovative techniques like simulated Direct Memory Access (DMA) to manage operations. Microsoft’s hardware launch timeline includes the Z-80 SoftCard (1980), Microsoft Mouse (1983), various Windows peripherals in the 1990s, Xbox (2001), Zune (2006), Windows Mobile phones (2010), Surface (2012), and HoloLens (2016). Microsoft redefined itself as a ‘software and devices’ company in 2013.