Corporate policies for acquiring hardware typically require going through a bunch of procedures, like issuing purchase orders, getting appropriate approvals, all the usual red tape with the purpose of preventing fraud. But the Windows 95 project was so notoriously behind schedule that upper management removed some procedural roadblocks. To expedite the acquisition of hardware for members of the development team, the administrative assistant for the core development team was issued a corporate credit card with a credit limit of $500,000. (You can calculate what $500,000 in 1994 dollars corresponds to in today’s money.) I assume the theory here was “buy first, fill out paperwork later.”

“It’s kind of weird having a credit card in your pocket that you could buy a house with.”