I don't know the back story of Cybernet Electronics but Microsoft was doing lots of work over in Japan in the early 80's. They cooperated with their own office over there (obviously) and the ASCII Cooperation. The latter spawned the MSX computer range. So it's probably safe to say that Bill and Microsoft where pretty connected with the industry in Japan. Bill has also written about this and said that the M100 has a special place in his heart because this is one of the last products where he contributed most of the code himself. It was also Bill (apparently) that championed the M100 in the US (to Tandy) when the KC-85 flopped in Japan. Because he saw the potential in this great little machine.
An interview with Bill that mentions the model 100: https://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/bill-gates-1986 *INTERVIEWER:* What do you consider your greatest achievement ever in programming? *GATES:* I’d have to say BASIC for the 8080, because of the effect it’s had, and because of how appropriate it was at the time, and because we managed to get it so small. It was the original program we wrote when we decided to start Microsoft. Three of us knew that original program by heart. We got a chance to completely rewrite it one summer down in Albuquerque, and I thought we could save a few bytes and tighten things up. We just tuned the program very, very carefully, and ended up with a 4K BASIC interpreter. When you know a program that well, you feel that nobody can look at the code and say, “There’s a better way to do this.” That feeling’s really nice, and the fact that the program was used on a lot of machines makes it an exciting program to have written. I also feel really good about the software on the Model 100, especially about how we squeezed in a very useful small editor. I worked with Jey Suzuki, a Japanese programmer, to put that together. We had very limited time to finish the project. When you do software that gets burned into ROM, you don’t get an opportunity to make mistakes. On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 10:09 PM John R. Hogerhuis <[email protected]> wrote: > "Who the heck was Cybernet?" > > Definitely aliens. Or time travelers ;-) > > On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 1:04 PM B9 <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Most of us know the story that the Model T sisters were all licensed from >> a single brilliant design from Kyocera. But I can't find much evidence of >> Kyocera being in the computer business before or after. >> >> I had heard a rumour that Kyocera actually acquired the technology from >> some other company, but a name was not given so I didn't give it much >> credence. >> >> >> This year, the Kyocera/Inamori Museum posted a photo (attached) of a NEC >> PC-8201 with this label: >> >> NEC PC 8201 >> ハンド・ヘルドコンピュータ >> サイバネット工業上の合併によるシナ|ジーを活かして消典され >> たハンドヘルドコンピュータ.プログラム到発には芸速日の >> ピル・ゲイツ氏もかかわった。 >> >> >> It says, >> >> The PC-8201computer, developed by Kyocera and sold by NEC, was developed >> after Kyocera acquired the Cybernet Electronics Corporation. >> Microsoft founder Bill Gates was involved in programming the computer. >> >> >> So now I'm wondering, Who the heck was Cybernet? Does anybody know the >> history? And how did they get Bill Gates on board? >> >> --b9 >> > -- mvh, Rune Devik
