Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is the world's biggest software company, with over sixty thousand employees and a physical presence in over sixty countries as of 2005. It was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA. Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for various computing devices. Its most popular products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft Office families of products, each of which has achieved near ubiquity in the desktop computer market.

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"Micro-soft" (short for microcomputer software) was originally founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. The company eventually became the dominant provider of operating systems and entered several other markets to provide products in. Among these are a cable television station, MSNBC; an internet portal, MSN; and a computer encyclopedia, Microsoft Encarta. Microsoft has home entertainment products, such as the Xbox and WebTV, and is a leading provider of computer games, such as Dungeon Siege. Recently, Microsoft announced a change from its usual seven business groups down into three core business divisions.

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With what some describe as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has ubiquitous internal codes of conduct for employees, such as the "eat your own dogfood" mantra, which describes the practice of using pre-release Microsoft products inside the company. Microsoft has come under scrutiny for its business practices, and the US Justice Department, among others, has sued Microsoft more than once for antitrust violations and software bundling. In addition, people have criticized Microsoft for other things, such as the ease-of-use of its software and vendor lock-in. Despite this, Microsoft has won several awards, such as being named "1993 Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." by Fortune Magazine, and Microsoft is on the Fortune 500 list of companies as of 2005.

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Microsoft related Images and Photos (experimental)

Microsoft Ceo Bill Gates W. Wife Melinda at for All Kids Foundation