Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation. The history of Microsoft began on April 4, 1975, when it was founded byBill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque. Its current best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.
In 1980, Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM that allowed them to bundle Microsoft's operating system with IBM computers, paying Microsoft a royalty for every sale. In 1985, IBM requested that Microsoft write a new operating system for their computers called OS/2; Microsoft wrote the operating system, but also continued to sell their own alternative, which proved to be in direct competition with OS/2. Microsoft Windows eventually overshadowed OS/2 in terms of sales. When Microsoft launched several versions of Microsoft Windows in the 1990s, they had captured over 90% market share of the world's personal computers.
The company has now become largely successful. As of 2013, Microsoft has a global annual revenue of US$ 77.85 billion and nearly 110,000 employees in 105 countries. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices.
The idea that would spawn Microsoft germinated when Paul Allen showed Bill Gates the January 1, 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800.[7] Allen and Gates saw potential to develop an implementation of the programming language BASIC for the system.[8] Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), offering to demonstrate the implementation in order to win a contract with the company. Allen and Gates had neither an interpreter nor an Altair system, yet in the eight weeks before the demo they developed an interpreter. When Allen flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet with MITS, the interpreter worked and MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC. Allen and Gates left Boston, where
Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation. The history of Microsoft began on April 4, 1975, when it was founded byBill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque. Its current best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.
In 1980, Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM that allowed them to bundle Microsoft's operating system with IBM computers, paying Microsoft a royalty for every sale. In 1985, IBM requested that Microsoft write a new operating system for their computers called OS/2; Microsoft wrote the operating system, but also continued to sell their own alternative, which proved to be in direct competition with OS/2. Microsoft Windows eventually overshadowed OS/2 in terms of sales. When Microsoft launched several versions of Microsoft Windows in the 1990s, they had captured over 90% market share of the world's personal computers.
The company has now become largely successful. As of 2013, Microsoft has a global annual revenue of US$ 77.85 billion and nearly 110,000 employees in 105 countries. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices.
The idea that would spawn Microsoft germinated when Paul Allen showed Bill Gates the January 1, 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800.[7] Allen and Gates saw potential to develop an implementation of the programming language BASIC for the system.[8] Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), offering to demonstrate the implementation in order to win a contract with the company. Allen and Gates had neither an interpreter nor an Altair system, yet in the eight weeks before the demo they developed an interpreter. When Allen flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet with MITS, the interpreter worked and MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC. Allen and Gates left Boston, where