Jim (James) Lane is an American who was one of the original staff of Microsoft. He worked on forging the relationship between Microsoft and Intel, the so-called "Wintel" alliance. Bob Wallace, Gordon Letwin, and Jim Lane were the original members of Microsoft's Languages group. Lane worked on Microsoft's Pascal compiler, and was Project Lead for the FORTRAN compiler before leaving Microsoft in 1985. He has run his own small software company since the early 1990s, working on compilers, embedded systems, network protocols, and occasional computer games. In the early 1990s, he worked under contract to Digital Equipment Corp, porting Microsoft's Visual C/C++ compiler to the DEC Alpha. He has been a speaker several times at the annual Games Designers Conferences, and was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Area Unix Users' Group. Before working At Microsoft, Lane worked at Digital Group, in Denver, Colo, where he originated the concept of the luggable computer. He lives in a high-end suburb in Seattle's Eastside. His hobbies include math, cognitive science, Argentine Tango, and art photography.
Regarding the Associated Press April, 2000 article "A look at Microsoft's first 11 employees", Lane has said "They spelled all of the names right, but got almost everything else wrong."