In the beginning, Microsoft was not all that visible outside the hobby market. In the early days, Intel had a negative opinion of them, and was pretty skeptical about their C compiler, for example.

It seems to be fair to say that they were not that visible for quite a period.

And for a long time, they, particularly Bill Gates, was severely underestimated. That was the parlor game of the day for journalists--underestimating Bill Gates.