But BASIC had been around for a while when that happened, and if he invented anything, it was a marketing model that turned M$ into a monopoly of sorts.

For comparison here is Edison's 'first' invention:

Quadruplex telegraph - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The technology was invented by American inventor Thomas Edison, who sold the rights to Western Union in 1874 for the sum of $10,000.

The problem of sending two signals simultaneously in opposite directions on the same wire had been solved previously by Julius Wilhelm Gintl and improved to commercial viability by J. B. Stearns; Edison added the ability to double the number in each direction.

It was a good idea, but still only an evolutionary step, and the most noteworthy point was how he sold it and what he made with the proceeds.

He later 'stole' the ideas of others by having his lab develop minor improvements upon already patented technologies and acquiring patents on that, then he marketed it more efficiently than the original inventor.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}