ACT/Apricot Advert - April 1981
From Practical Computing
95% off the cost of financial modelling
Although this advert is for software and not a microcomputer, it does come from Applied Computer Techniques (ACT) of Birmingham - a company that had been importing Computhink's MiniMax and selling it as the ACT Series 800.
However, that's not really the noteworthy bit. The bit that is noteworthy is that ACT was calling its software division ACT Microsoft, and it's nothing to do with the Redmond-based company of the same name.
It's hard to think that ACT wasn't aware of the other Microsoft in the US, as its BASIC was being used in most micros of the day. However, the other Microsoft was only just on the cusp of becoming famous for its MS-DOS, and Windows was still years away.
So perhaps ACT though that a simple compound word made from the roots of microcomputer and software was fair game, with adverts for ACT Microsoft running in Practical Computing for much of 1981.
At least perhaps until the other Microsoft's legal team got wind of it.
Date created: 05 February 2026
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