Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation {{nasdaq|MSFT}} 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.

History

:See also History of Microsoft Windows

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Microsoft has gone through several stages throughout their history. During 1975 they were just an idea that Bill Gates and Paul Allen had. In 1985, they were a company selling an operating system called Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS and partnering with IBM to produce OS/2 Warp. By 1992 they dropped OS/2 and continued to drive Windows. By 1995 Windows was the most widely-used graphical operating system in the world and with Windows 95 they shifted to a more consumer-driven company. Afterwards, they later entered into other business markets such as television, were brought to court more than once by the US Justice Department, among others, and continued to dominate the operating system market.

Related Topics:
Microsoft Windows - MS-DOS - IBM - OS/2 Warp

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1975 to 1984

Days after reading the January 1st 1975 issue of Popular Science that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer, MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), to inform them that he and others had developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the platform. Allen flew to MITS to unveil the new BASIC system. Allen had never handled an Altair, since Gates had done all of the actual product development, but the demonstration was successful, and resulted in a deal with MITS to buy the rights to Allen's and Gates' BASIC for the Altair platform. Noticing an opportunity, Gates left Harvard university to pursue the market and eventually founded Microsoft.

Related Topics:
Popular Science - Altair 8800 - Microcomputer - MITS - Telemetry - BASIC - Development - Altair

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In August 12, 1981, after negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft for a version of CP/M set to be used as the operating system for the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (PC). However, Microsoft had no OS at the time, so they purchased a CP/M clone called QDOS ("Quick and Dirty Operating System") from Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products for $50,000, which Microsoft renamed to PC-DOS. Due to potential copyright infringement problems with CP/M, IBM sold both CP/M for $250 and PC-DOS for $40, with PC-DOS eventually becoming the standard due to its lower price. Later, after Compaq successfully cloned the IBM BIOS, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones. Microsoft was quick to use its position to dominate the home computer operating system market. Microsoft began licensing its OS for use on non-IBM PC clones, and called that version MS-DOS (for Microsoft Disk Operating System). By marketing MS-DOS aggressively to manufacturers of IBM-PC clones, Microsoft went from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer industry.

Related Topics:
August 12 - 1981 - Digital Research - IBM - CP/M - Operating system - IBM Personal Computer - QDOS - Tim Paterson - Seattle Computer Products - PC-DOS - Copyright infringement - Compaq - BIOS - PC clone - MS-DOS - Disk

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1985 to 1991

In 1985 Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a more advanced operating system called OS/2. OS/2 was marketed in connection with a new hardware design proprietary to IBM, the PS/2{{ref|techworldos2}}. Shortly afterwards, in February 1986, Microsoft relocated to Redmond, Washington. One month later the company went public, raising $61 million at $21.00 per share. By the end of the trading day, the price had risen to $28. Eventually in 1987 Microsoft released their first version of OS/2 to OEMs{{ref|msos2announcement}}.

Related Topics:
1985 - IBM - OS/2 - PS/2 - 1986 - Redmond, Washington - 1987 - OEM

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In 1989, Microsoft announced at Comdex that the 1991 release of Windows 3.0 would be the last version of Windows. Over the next few years, Microsoft continued to issue statements indicating that OS/2 was the future of computing. On May 16, 1991, Bill Gates announced to Microsoft employees that the OS/2 partnership was over, and that Microsoft would henceforth focus its platform efforts on Windows and the Windows NT kernel. Some, especially developers who had ignored Windows and committed most of their resources to OS/2, were taken by surprise. They alleged that Microsoft had engaged in deliberate misdirection. The Windows changeover was frequently referred to within the industry as "the head-fake." In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and Windows quickly became the favored PC platform.

Related Topics:
Comdex - May 16 - 1991 - Windows NT - Kernel

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1992 to 1995

During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, Microsoft gained ground on application-software competitors such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 with its product Microsoft Office. Some allege that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and undocumented Application Programming Interface (API) features to make Office perform better than its competitors, but internal sources at Microsoft later revealed that the Office team didn't have access to the Windows source code at the time, and relied instead on reverse engineering{{ref|BozosLiveHere}}. Eventually Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with market share far exceeding that of any of its competitors. In March 1992, Microsoft released Windows 3.1 along with their first television commercial campaign to promote it, and the software sold over three million copies in its first two months on the market. Later, in October Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released with integrated networking capabilities such as peer-to-peer file and printing sharing. In November 1992, Microsoft released the first version of their database software Microsoft Access. Microsoft released the next version of Windows in November 1993, Windows for Workgroups 3.11. By 1993 Windows had become the most widely used GUI operating system in the world. Microsoft was also named the "1993 Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." by Fortune Magazine. The year also marked the end of a long sixty-three month legal case brought by Apple, with the judge, Vaughn Walker, ruling in Microsoft's favor. Microsoft also released Windows NT 3.1 that same year. Windows NT is a server-based operating system with a similar user interface to consumer versions of the operating system but with an entirely different kernel.

Related Topics:
WordPerfect - Lotus 1-2-3 - Microsoft Office - Application Programming Interface - API - Reverse engineering - Market share - Windows 3.1 - Television - Windows for Workgroups 3.1 - Microsoft Access - Windows for Workgroups 3.11 - GUI - Apple - Windows NT 3.1

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Broadening out a bit more, Microsoft released Microsoft Encarta in 1994, the first encyclopedia designed to run on a computer. Microsoft also created the Microsoft Plus product support program for its customers, a service that offered cost savings on Microsoft products. The name of that program was later used as the name of some expansion packs for Windows. The company changed its slogan to "Where do you want to go today?" in that year as part of attempt to appeal to non-technical audiencies in a one-hundred million dollar advertising campaign, and some criticized the new slogan as uninspired. Dreamworks SKG and Microsoft formed a new company, Dreamworks Interactive, to produce interactive and multimedia entertainment properties in 1995.

Related Topics:
Microsoft Encarta - Dreamworks SKG - Dreamworks Interactive

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Up until 1995, Microsoft was mostly a business-oriented company. However, in August of 1995 Microsoft released a new version of their flagship software, Microsoft Windows 95. In addition to having a completely new user interface which included the "start button", more than 1 million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days in stores. The new version of Windows began a shift from a business-oriented company to a more consumer-oriented company. Later, in September, China chose Windows to be the operating system of choice for the The People's Republic of China and entered into an agreement with Microsoft to standardize a Chinese version of the software. Microsoft also released the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick in an attempt to expand their product lineup in the computer hardware market.

Related Topics:
Microsoft Windows 95 - The People's Republic of China - Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro - Computer hardware

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1995 to 1999

In the mid-1990s, Microsoft began to expand its product line into the networked computer world. It launched its online service MSN (Microsoft Network) on August 24, 1995, as a direct competitor to AOL. MSN became an umbrella service for all of Microsoft's online services, using Microsoft Passport as a universal login system for all of its websites. Microsoft continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture with NBC to create new twenty-four hour cable news station, MSNBC. The station, designed to compete with other twenty-four hour news stations such as CNN, launched on July 16th. Slate, an online magazine, also launched the same year. The magazine, edited by Michael Kinsley, offered political and social commentary and the cartoon Doonesbury. In addition, the company acquired WebTV in an attempt to futher its reach in the consumer market, as the aquisition enabled Microsoft to distribute the flagship product of WebTV that enabled consumers to easily access the internet from their television. Microsoft also entered the palm computing market in November with Windows CE 1.0, a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system specifically designed to run on low-memory low-performance machines such as handhelds and other palm-size computers. 1996 also hosted the release of Windows NT 4.0, which brought the Windows 95 GUI and NT kernel together.

Related Topics:
1990s - Networked - Online service - MSN - August 24 - 1995 - AOL - Microsoft Passport - NBC - MSNBC - CNN - Slate - Michael Kinsley - Doonesbury - WebTV - Windows CE 1.0

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While Microsoft largely missed the rise of the internet in the early 1990s, some of the key technologies that Microsoft invested in to enter the internet market came to life in the mid 1990s. One of the most prominant of these was ActiveX, an API built on Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) that enabled Microsoft and others to have embeddable controls in many different programming languages, including Microsoft's own scripting languages such as JScript and VBScript. ActiveX also included frameworks for documents and server solutions. Also released was Microsoft SQL Server which had built-in support for internet applications. Later in 1997 Microsoft Office 97 as well as Internet Explorer 4.0 was released, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival Netscape, and with an agreement with Apple Computer, Internet Explorer was bundled with the Macintosh operating system as well as Windows. In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court in which they stated that Microsoft violated an agreement that they signed with them back in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.

Related Topics:
ActiveX - Microsoft Component Object Model - COM - Programming languages - JScript - VBScript - Microsoft SQL Server - Microsoft Office 97 - Internet Explorer 4.0 - Netscape - Apple Computer - Macintosh

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In 1998 Microsoft released updates to two of the Windows lines. Windows 98, the consumer version, came with Internet Explorer 4.0 bundled and included new features such as FAT32, a new file system, Active Desktop, a way of putting web pages on the desktop, and support for multiple displays. Windows CE 2.0, the handheld version, included a host of bug fixes and new features designed to make it more appealing to corporate customers. Microsoft also launched its Indian headquarters that year, which would eventually become the second largest, next to the U.S. headquarters. Steve Ballmer was appointed president of Microsoft that year, and Bill Gates remained as both chairman and CEO. Later, in 1999, Microsoft Office 2000 was released along with Internet Explorer 5.0.

Related Topics:
Windows 98 - FAT32 - Active Desktop - Windows CE 2.0 - India - Steve Ballmer - Microsoft Office 2000 - Internet Explorer 5.0

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2000 to 2005

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On May 18, 1998, the United States Department of Justice and twenty U.S. states filed charges against Microsoft, stating that Microsoft illegally abused its monopoly power in sales of Windows, in United States v. Microsoft{{ref|usantitrust}}. It wasn't until April 3, 2000, however, that a ruling was reached, with U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft to be split into two companies. However, in June 2001 part of the ruling was overturned by a federal appeals court, and in September the Justice Department decided to seek a settlement with Microsoft instead of trying to split it up. While the trial was underway, on February 17, 2000, Microsoft released Windows 2000, which some consider the most significant improvement over previous versions, It provided OS stability on the level of its Unix counterparts. Unlike previous consumer-level operating systems, Windows 2000 was not built upon DOS but upon the Windows NT kernel. Windows 2000 also provided a DOS emulator that could run most old DOS applications from previous Windows versions. During the trial Bill Gates also stepped down as CEO, and Steve Ballmer became the new CEO with Bill Gates still remaining a chairman of the company and also a new role he made for himself dubbed "chief software architect".

Related Topics:
May 18 - 1998 - United States Department of Justice - Monopoly - United States v. Microsoft - 2000 - Thomas Penfield Jackson - June 2001 - Windows 2000 - Unix - Windows NT - DOS - Emulator

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Also in 2000, Microsoft released a new version of the consumer version of their flagship product, Windows ME, short for 'Millenium Edition'. Widely regarded as one of the most unstable operating systems Microsoft produced throughout its career, its main features were enhanced multimedia capabilities such as an included automated video editor. In June the company also released a new version of their handheld operating system, Windows CE 3.0. The main change was the new programming APIs the software had. Previous versions of Windows CE supported only a small subset of the WinAPI, the main development library for windows, and with version 3 of Windows CE the operating system now supported nearly all of the core functionality of the programming library. In 2001 Microsoft released Windows XP. The new version of Windows brought Microsoft's consumer and business lines of Windows together, and took the kernel of Windows 2000 and combined it with several of the features of its consumer line of Windows and enhanced the DOS emulation capabilities of the operating system. Among many other featured it boasted an entirely new interface. However, it also included the controversial Microsoft Product Activation, requiring people to register with Microsoft before using the product, and the activation would become a staple of other products such as Office.

Related Topics:
Windows ME - Windows CE 3.0 - WinAPI - Windows XP - Microsoft Product Activation

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In 2003 Microsoft launched the .NET initiative, along with new versions of some of their development products such as Microsoft Visual C++. The initiative is an entirely new development API for Windows programming, and includes a new programming language, C sharp. Windows Server 2003 was also launched and featured enhanced administration capabilities including new user interfaces to server tools. Later, in 2004, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, a version of Windows XP specifically designed for multimedia capabilities, and Windows XP Starter Edition, a version of Windows XP with fewer features designed for entry-level consumers, were released.

Related Topics:
.NET - Microsoft Visual C++ - API - C sharp - Windows Server 2003 - Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 - Windows XP Starter Edition

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In March, the European Union brought legal action against Microsoft for antitrust violations. Eventually Microsoft was fined $613 million and ordered to divulge certain protocols to competitors, in addition to producing a version of Windows that did not include the Windows Media Player. {{ref|euantitrust}} Microsoft announced a new version of its MSN search service later in 2005, designed to compete with competitors such as Google.

Related Topics:
European Union - Google

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