Representing Apple Computer, John Sculley, who fired Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates from Microsoft signed a licence agreement on 22 November 1985. On condition that Apple derivativity is acknowledged, it was agreed that Microsoft was allowed to use components of the Macintosh user interface free of charge in Windows 1.0 (and in subsequent programs), released two days earlier. It was also part of the agreement that Microsoft would release its new programmes for the Macintosh.

When Windows 2.0 was released in 1988, Sculley argued that the 1985 agreement applied to the new Windows too, and Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft. Eventually, Apple lost the case in 1997.