Microsoft launches its own publishing imprint 8080 Books

Computer technology company Microsoft has launched its own publishing imprint with the aim of publishing non-fiction books by “Microsoftees” as well as writers outside of the business. 

The imprint is named 8080 after the microprocessor, “a foundation for the company’s earliest software breakthroughs” as well as “the last four digits of Microsoft’s corporate headquarters’ phone number”.    

The non-fiction imprint will publish “original research, ideas and insights at the intersection of science, technology and business”. 

Its first title, No Prize for Pessimism, by Sam Schillace, deputy chief technology officer at Microsoft, was published this week. Its next title, Platform Mindset, by Marcus Fontoura, will be available before the end of the year.   

Microsoft’s Steve Clayton, vice president, communications, and Greg Shaw, senior director, c.e.o. communications, wrote in a blog post: “We’re both acutely aware of the rich well of talent at Microsoft from which we can draw upon and publish under the 8080 Books imprint over time.  

“However, our intention is that we will seek to use this not just as a platform for Microsoft authors but also to showcase minds and ideas from outside of the company.” 

Microsoft told the Guardian the imprint aims to “accelerate the publishing process, shortening the lag between the final manuscript and the book’s arrival in the marketplace”.  

A spokesperson said: “Technology has quickened the pace of almost every industry except publishing. We know that more important ideas and arguments can travel faster than they do at the moment. Can they travel too fast? Of course, that already happens in abundance, but we seek to strike the right balance.” 

The blog post by Clayton and Shaw adds: “As fans of books, especially in their physical format, it is our great pleasure to launch 8080 Books, an imprint of Microsoft. Computing has become an essential ingredient to almost every endeavour on our planet.”