myhrvold left cambridge to co-found a computer startup in oakland, california. the company, dynamical systems research inc. (dsr), sought to produce mondrian, a clone of ibm's topview multitasking environment for dos. myhrvold served as dsr's president. microsoft purchased dsr in 1986 for $1.5m in stock. myhrvold worked at microsoft for 13 years in a variety of executive positions, culminating in his appointment as the company's first chief technology officer in 1996. at microsoft he founded microsoft research in 1991.