Gates enrolled at Harvard University while Allen pursued a degree in computer science at Washington State University, though he later dropped out to work at Honeywell. In 1972, they founded Traf-O-Data, which sold a rudimentary computer to track and analyze automobile traffic data. Paul Allen and Bill Gates on October 19, 1981, after signing a pivotal contract with IBM : 228Ĭhildhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen sought to make a business using their skills in computer programming. As of 2020, Microsoft has the third-highest global brand valuation. public company to be valued at over $1 trillion after Apple and Amazon respectively. In April 2019, Microsoft reached the trillion-dollar market cap, becoming the third U.S. Įarlier dethroned by Apple in 2010, in 2018 Microsoft reclaimed its position as the most valuable publicly traded company in the world. Since Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, the company has scaled back on hardware and has instead focused on cloud computing, a move that helped the company's shares reach its highest value since December 1999. in 2008, entering the personal computer production market for the first time in June 2012 with the launch of the Microsoft Surface line of tablet computers, and later forming Microsoft Mobile through the acquisition of Nokia's devices and services division. This unfolded with Microsoft acquiring Danger Inc. Steve Ballmer replaced Gates as CEO in 2000, and later envisioned a "devices and services" strategy.
The company also produces a wide range of other consumer and enterprise software for desktops, laptops, tabs, gadgets, and servers, including Internet search (with Bing), the digital services market (through MSN), mixed reality ( HoloLens), cloud computing ( Azure), and software development ( Visual Studio).
Īs of 2015, Microsoft is market-dominant in the IBM PC compatible operating system market and the office software suite market, although it has lost the majority of the overall operating system market to Android. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions, their largest being the acquisition of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in December 2016, followed by their acquisition of Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in May 2011. The company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO), and subsequent rise in its share price, created three billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires among Microsoft employees. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. Microsoft (the word being a portmanteau of " microcomputer software" ) was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It is one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Google, Amazon, Apple, and Meta. 21 in the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue it was the world's largest software maker by revenue as of 2016. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers.
Its best-known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers.
This edition works on a Windows Shell graphics user interface and comes with a comprehensive suite of anti-virus and firewalls.Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. It was made available to the general public on 29 July 2015. This edition has broadly released for retail sales on 17 October 2013, about a year after the release of its predecessor.
Windows 8 AII launched its latest release,, on 13 December 2016. It was launched on 26 October 2012 and is known to be the major release of the Windows NT operating system.
Released on 22 October 2009, this enterprise version is designed for the corporate world and is only available to large businesses through volume licensing. This edition is launched on 22 October 2009 and mainly targets small business owners, enthusiasts, and schools.
Released on 30 January 2007, this windows edition includes a multi-lingual user interface, BitLocker, and UNIX application support.
Launched on 30 January 2007, Windows Vista Business is a professional office version of Microsoft’s Vista operating system.