History of Microsoft

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History of MicrosoftFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microsoft logo since August 23, 2012

Microsoftis a multinational computer technology corporation. The history of Microsoftbegan on April 4, 1975,

when it was founded byBill GatesandPaul AlleninAlbuquerque.[1]Its current best-selling products are

theMicrosoft Windowsoperating systemand theMicrosoft Officesuite of productivity software.

In 1980, Microsoft formed a partnership withIBMthat 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 calledOS/2; Microsoft wrote the operating system, but also continued tosell 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 ofMicrosoft Windowsin the

1990s, they had captured over 90% market share of the world's personal computers.

The company has now become largely successful. As of 2008, Microsoft has a global annual revenue of US$

60.42billionand nearly 90,000 employees in 105 countries. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports

a wide range ofsoftwareproducts for computing devices.[2][3][4]

Contents

[hide]

1 1975-1985: The founding of Microsoft

2 19851991: The rise and fall of OS/2

3 19921995: Domination of the corporate market

4 19951999: Foray into the Web and other ventures

5 20002005: Legal issues, XP, and .NET

6 2005present: Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

1975-1985: The founding of Microsoft[edit]
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Microsoft staff photo, December 7, 1978. From left to right:

Top:Steve Wood,Bob Wallace,Jim Lane.

Middle:Bob O'Rear,Bob Greenberg,Marc McDonald,Gordon Letwin.

Bottom:Bill Gates,Andrea Lewis,Marla Wood,Paul Allen.

Gates described the photograph in 2009 as "that famous picture that provides indisputable proof that your average computer

geek from the late 1970s was not exactly on the cutting edge of fashion."[5]

The idea that would spawn Microsoft germinated when Paul Allen showed Bill Gates the January 1, 1975 issue

ofPopular Electronicsthat demonstrated theAltair 8800.[6]Allen and Gates saw potential to develop an

implementation of theprogramming languageBASICfor the system.[7]Bill Gates called the creators of the

newmicrocomputer,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

toAlbuquerque, New Mexicoto meet with MITS, the interpreter worked and MITS agreed to distributeAltair

BASIC.[8]Allen and Gates left Boston, where Allen worked for Honeywell and Gates was enrolled in

Harvard,[9]moved to Albuquerque (where MITS was located), and co-founded Microsoft there. Revenues of the

company totaled $16,005 by the end of 1976.

Allen came up with the original name ofMicro-Soft(aportmanteauofmicrocomputerand software), as

recounted in a1995 Fortune magazine interview with Allen and Gates.[10]Hyphenated in its early incarnations,

on November 26, 1976 the company was registered under that name with the Secretary of State of New

Mexico. The company's first international office was founded on November 1, 1978, in Japan, entitled

"ASCIIMicrosoft" (now called "Microsoft Japan"), and on November 29, 1979, the term, "Microsoft" was first

used by Bill Gates.[6]On January 1, 1979, the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home inBellevue,
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Washington.[6]Steve Ballmerjoined the company on June 11, 1980, and would later succeed Bill Gates as

CEO.[6]The company restructured on June 25, 1981, to become an incorporated business in its home state of

Washington (with a further change of its name to "Microsoft, Inc."). As part of the restructuring, Bill Gates

became president of the company and chairman of the board, and Paul Allen became Executive Vice

President.[6]

Microsoft's early products were different variants ofMicrosoft BASICwhich was the dominant programming

language in late 1970s and early 1980s home computers such asApple II(Applesoft BASIC) andCommodore

64(Commodore BASIC), and were also provided with early versions of theIBM PCas theIBM Cassette

BASIC.

The firstoperating systempublicly released by the company was a variant ofUnixin 1980. Acquired

fromAT&Tthrough a distribution license, Microsoft dubbed itXenix, and hiredSanta Cruz Operationin order to

port/adapt theoperating systemto several platforms.[11][12]This Unix variant would become home to the first

version of Microsoft'sword processor,Microsoft Word. Originally titled "Multi-Tool Word", Microsoft Word

became notable for its concept of "What You See Is What You Get", orWYSIWYG.

Word was also the first application with such features as the ability to display bold text. It was first released in

the spring of 1983, and free demonstration copies of the application were bundled with the November 1983

issue ofPC World, making it the first program to be distributed on-disk with a magazine.[13]However, Xenix was

never sold to end users directly although it was licensed to many softwareOEMsfor resale. It grew to become

the most popular version of Unix, measured by the number of machines running it[14](note that Unix is a multi-

user operating system, allowing simultaneous access to a machine by several users). By the mid-1980s

Microsoft had gotten out of the Unix business, except for an interest in SCO.[11]

DOS(Disk Operating System) was the operating system that brought the company its real

success.International Business Machines(IBM) first approached Microsoft about its upcomingIBM Personal

Computer(IBM PC) in July 1980.[15]On August 12, 1981, after negotiations withDigital Researchfailed, IBM

awarded a contract to Microsoft to provide a version of theCP/Moperating system, which was set to be used in

the IBM PC. For this deal, Microsoft purchased aCP/Mclone called86-DOSfromTim PatersonofSeattle

Computer Productsfor less than US$100,000, which IBM renamed toIBM PC DOS. Microsoft did not have an

operating system when they closed the deal with IBM and IBM had not done their homework. Due to

potentialcopyright infringementproblems with CP/M, IBM marketed both CP/M and PC DOS for US$240 and

US$40, respectively, with PC DOS eventually becoming the standard because of its lower price.[16][17]35 of the

company's 100 employees worked on the IBM project for more than a year. When the IBM PC debuted,

Microsoft was the only company that offered operating system, programming language, and application

software for the new computer.[15]
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Around 1983, in collaboration with numerous companies, Microsoft created a home computer system,MSX,

which contained its own version of the DOS operating system, calledMSX-DOS; this became relatively popular

in Japan, Europe and South America.[8][18][19]Later, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones afterColumbia

Data Productssuccessfully cloned the IBMBIOS, quickly followed byEagle

ComputerandCompaq.[20][21][22][23]The deal with IBM allowed Microsoft to have control of its own QDOS

derivative,MS-DOS, and through aggressive marketing of the operating system to manufacturers of IBM-PC

clones Microsoft rose from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer

industry.[24]With the release of theMicrosoft Mouseon May 2, 1983, Microsoft continued to expand its product

line in other markets. This expansion includedMicrosoft Press, a book publishing division, on July 11 the same

year, which debuted with two titles: Exploring the IBM PCjr Home ComputerbyPeter Norton, and The Apple

Macintosh BookbyCary Lu.[6]

19851991: The rise and fall of OS/2[edit]

The sign at a main entrance to the Microsoft corporate campus. The Redmond Microsoft campus today includes more than

8 million square feet (approx. 750,000 m) and 28,000 employees.[25]

Ireland became home to one of Microsoft's international production facilities in 1985, and on November 20

Microsoft released its first retail version ofMicrosoft Windows(Windows 1.0), originally a graphical extension

for its MS-DOS operating system.[6]In August, Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a different

operating system calledOS/2. OS/2 was marketed in connection with a new hardware design proprietary to

IBM, thePS/2.[26]On February 16, 1986, Microsoft relocated to Redmond, Washington. Around one month

later, on March 13, the company went public with an IPO, raising US$61 million at US$21.00 per share. By the

end of the trading day, the price had risen to US$28.00. In 1987, Microsoft eventually released their firstversion of OS/2 toOEMs.[27]

Meanwhile, Microsoft began introducing its most prominent office products.Microsoft Works, an integrated

office program which combined features typically found in aword processor,spreadsheet,databaseand other

office applications, saw its first release as an application for theApple Macintoshtowards the end of

1986.[8]Microsoft Works would later be sold with other Microsoft products including Microsoft Word
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andMicrosoft Bookshelf, a reference collection introduced in 1987 that was the company's first CD-

ROMproduct.[6][28]Later, on August 8, 1989, Microsoft would introduce its most successful office

product,Microsoft Office. Unlike the model of Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office was a bundle of separate office

productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word,Microsoft Exceland so forth. While Microsoft Word and

Microsoft Office were mostly developed internally, Microsoft also continued its trend of rebranding products

from other companies, such asMicrosoft SQL Serveron January 13, 1988, arelational database management

systemfor companies that was based on technology licensed fromSybase.[6]

On May 22, 1990 Microsoft launchedWindows 3.0.[8]The new version of Microsoft's operating system boasted

such new features as streamlined graphicuser interfaceGUIand improvedprotected modeability for theIntel

386processor; it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks.[8][29]Windows at the time generated more revenue for

Microsoft than OS/2, and the company decided to move more resources from OS/2 to Windows.[30]In an

internal memo to Microsoft employees on May 16, 1991, Bill Gates announced that the OS/2 partnership was

over, and that Microsoft would henceforth focus its platform efforts on Windows and theWindows NTkernel.

Some people, especially developers who had ignored Windows and committed most of their resources to OS/2,

were taken by surprise, and accused Microsoft of deception. This changeover from OS/2 was frequently

referred to in the industry as "the head-fake".[31][32]In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and

Windows quickly became the favored PC platform. 1991 also marked the founding ofMicrosoft Research, an

organization in Microsoft for researchingcomputer sciencesubjects, and MicrosoftVisual Basic, a popular

development product for companies and individuals.[6]

19921995: Domination of the corporate market[edit]

The Microsoft sign at the entrance of the German Microsoft campus,Konrad-Zuse-Str. 1,Unterschleiheim, Germany.

Microsoft became an international company with headquarters in many countries.

During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft's productMicrosoft Officeallowed the

company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such asWordPerfectandLotus 1-2-3.[8][33]Novell,

an owner of WordPerfect for a time, alleged that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows

kernels and of undocumentedApplication Programming Interfacefeatures to make Office perform better than its
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rosoft_Sign_on_German_campus.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft_Sign_on_German_campus.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft_Sign_on_German_campus.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft_Sign_on_German_campus.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_Programming_Interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_1-2-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPerfecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Officehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unterschlei%C3%9Fheimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zusehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Microsoft&action=edit&section=3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_sciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-NRheadfake-31http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-NRheadfake-31http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computer_science)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-OS.2F2history-30http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80386http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80386http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_modehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interfacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_3.0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database_management_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database_management_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SQL_Serverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Officehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROMhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROMhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bookshelf


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competitors.[34]Eventually, Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with a market share far

exceeding that of its competitors.[35]In March 1992, Microsoft releasedWindows 3.1along with its first

promotional campaign on TV; the software sold over three million copies in its first two months on the

market.[6][8]In October,Windows for Workgroups 3.1was released with integrated networking abilities such

aspeer-to-peerfile and printing sharing.[8]In November, Microsoft released the first version of their popular

database softwareMicrosoft Access.[8]

The Microsoft sign at the entrance of the Dubai Microsoft campus,Dubai Internet City. Microsoft has developed Arabic

versions for most of its products.

By 1993, Windows had become the most widely usedGUIoperating system in the world.[8]Fortune

Magazine named Microsoft as the "1993 Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S."[36]The year also

marked the end of a five-yearcopyright infringementlegal case brought byApple Computer, dubbedApple

Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., in which the ruling was in Microsoft's favor, the release ofWindows for

Workgroups 3.11, a new version of the consumer line of Windows, andWindows NT 3.1, a server-based

operating system with a similar user interface to consumer versions of the operating system, but with an

entirely different kernel.[8]As part of its strategy to broaden its business, Microsoft releasedMicrosoft Encartaon

March 22, 1993, the first encyclopedia designed to run on a computer.[6]Soon after, theMicrosoft Homebrand

was introduced encompassing Microsoft's new multimedia applications for Windows 3.x., Microsoft changed

its slogan to"Where do you want to go today?"in 1994 as part of an attempt to appeal to nontechnical

audiences in a US$100 million advertising campaign.[8]

Microsoft continued to make strategic decisions directed at consumers. The company releasedMicrosoft Bob,

a graphical user interface designed for novice computer users, in March 1995. The interface was discontinued
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in 1996 due to poor sales; Bill Gates later attributed its failure to hardware requirements that were too high for

typical computers; Microsoft Bob is widely regarded as Microsoft's most unsuccessful

product.[37][38]DreamWorks SKGand Microsoft formed a new company,DreamWorks Interactive(in 2000

acquired byElectronic Artswhich named it EA Los Angeles), to produce interactive andmultimedia

entertainmentproperties.[6]On August 24, 1995, Microsoft releasedMicrosoft Windows 95, a new version of

the company's flagship operating system which featured a completely new user interface, including a

novelstart button; more than a million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days after its

release.[8]

Windows 95 was released without aweb browseras Microsoft had not yet developed one. The success of the

Internet caught them by surprise and they subsequently approachedSpyglassto license their browser

asInternet Explorer. Spyglass went on to later dispute the terms of the agreement, as Microsoft was to pay a

royalty for every copy sold. However, Microsoft sold no copies of Internet Explorer, choosing instead to bundle

it for free with the operating system.

Internet Explorer was first included in the Windows 95 Plus! Pack that was released in August 1995.[39]In

September, the Chinese government chose Windows to be the operating system of choice in that country, and

entered into an agreement with the Company to standardize a Chinese version of the operating

system.[8]Microsoft also released theMicrosoft Sidewinder 3D Projoystick in an attempt to further expand its

profile in the computer hardware market.[8]

19951999: Foray into the Web and other ventures[edit]

On, May 26, 1995, Bill Gates sent the "Internet Tidal Wave" memorandum to Microsoft executives. The memodescribedNetscapewith theirNetscape Navigatoras a "new competitor 'born' on the Internet." The memo

outlines Microsoft's failure to grasp the Internet's importance, and in it Gates assigns "the Internet this highest

level of importance" from then on.[40]Microsoft began to expand its product line intocomputer networkingand

theWorld Wide Web. On August 24, 1995, it launched a majoronline service,MSN(Microsoft Network), as a

direct competitor toAOL. MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services, using Microsoft

Passport (now calledWindows Live ID) as a universal login system for all of its web sites.[6][8][41]The company

continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture withNBCto create a new24-

hourcable newstelevision station,MSNBC. The station was launched on July 15, 1996 to compete with similar

news outlets such asCNN.[8][42]Microsoft also launchedSlate, anonline magazineedited byMichael Kinsley,

which offered political and social commentary along with the cartoonDoonesbury.[6]In an attempt to extend its

reach in the consumer market, the company acquiredWebTV, which enabled consumers to access the Web

from their televisions.[6]Microsoft entered the personal digital assistant (PDA) market in November

withWindows CE 1.0, a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, designed to run on
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low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other small computers.[43]1996 saw the

release ofWindows NT 4.0, which brought the Windows 95 GUI and Windows NT kernel together.[44]

While Microsoft largely failed to participate in the rise of the Internet in the early 1990s, some of the key

technologies in which the company had invested to enter the Internet market started to pay off by the mid-90s.

One of the most prominent of these wasActiveX, an application programming interface built on theMicrosoft

Component Object Model(COM); this enabled Microsoft and others to embed controls in manyprogramming

languages, including the company's ownscripting languages, such asJScriptandVBScript. ActiveX included

frameworks for documents and server solutions.[8]The company also released the Microsoft SQL Server 6.5,

which had built-in support for internet applications.[8]Later in 1997,Microsoft Office 97as well asInternet

Explorer 4.0were released, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rivalNetscape,

and by agreement withApple Computer, Internet Explorer was bundled with theApple Macintoshoperating

system as well as with Windows.[8]Windows CE 2.0, the handheld version of Windows, was released this year,

including a host of bug fixes and new features designed to make it more appealing to corporate customers.[43]In

October, the Justice Department filed a motion in thefederal district courtin which they stated that Microsoft

had violated an agreement signed in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with

Windows.[6]

Windows 95-98desktop

The year 1998 was significant in Microsoft's history, with Bill Gates appointingSteve Ballmeras president of

Microsoft but remaining as Chair and CEO himself.[6]The company released an update to the consumer

version of Windows,Windows 98.[6]Windows 98 came with Internet Explorer 4.0 SP1 (which hadWindows

Desktop Updatebundled), and included new features from Windows 95 OSR 2.x including theFAT32filesystem, and new features designed for Windows 98, such as support for multiple displays.[45]Microsoft

launched its Indian headquarters as well, which would eventually become the company's second largest after

its U.S. headquarters.[8]Finally, a great deal of controversy took place when a set of internal memos from the

company were leaked on the Internet. These documents, colloquially referred to as "The Halloween

Documents", were widely reported by the media and go into detail of the threats thatfree software/open

source softwareposes to Microsoft's own software, previously voiced mainly by analysts and advocates of
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open source software. The documents also allude to legal and other actions againstLinuxas well as other

open source software.[46][47]While Microsoft acknowledges the documents, it claims that they are merely

engineering studies. Despite this, some believe that these studies were used in the real strategies of the

company.[48]

20002005: Legal issues, XP, and .NET[edit]

Bill Gates gives a presentation atIT-Forumin Copenhagen in 2004

Microsoft, in 2000, released new products for all three lines of the company's flagship operating system, and

saw the beginning of the end of one of its most prominent legal cases. On February 17, 2000, Microsoft

released an update to its business line of software inWindows 2000. It provided a high level of stability similar

to that of itsUnixcounterparts due to its usage of theWindows NTkernel, and matching features found in the

consumer line of the Windows operating system including a DOSemulatorthat could run manylegacyDOS

applications.[8]

On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case ofUnited States v. Microsoft,[49]

calling the company

an "abusive monopoly"[50]and forcing the company to split into two separate units. Part of this ruling was later

overturned by a federalappeals court, and eventually settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001. On

June 15, 2000, the company released a new version of its hand-held operating system,Windows CE

3.0.[43]The main change was the new programming APIs of the software. Previous versions of Windows CE

supported only a small subset of theWinAPI, 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 WinAPI. The next

update to the consumer line,Windows Me(or Windows Millennium Edition), was released on September 14,

2000.[6]It sported several new features such as enhanced multimedia abilities and consumer-oriented PC

maintenance options, but is often regarded as one of the worst versions of Windows due to installation

problems and other issues.[38][51]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linuxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linuxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linuxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-46http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-46http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-46http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-48http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-48http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-48http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Microsoft&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Microsoft&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Microsoft&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_Copenhagenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_Copenhagenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_Copenhagenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unixhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unixhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unixhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-usvms-49http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-usvms-49http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-usvms-49http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-findingsoffact-50http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-findingsoffact-50http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-findingsoffact-50http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_3.0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_3.0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_3.0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cehistory-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cehistory-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cehistory-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAPIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAPIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAPIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cnettop10worst-38http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cnettop10worst-38http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cnettop10worst-38http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_2004.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_2004.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_2004.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_2004.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cnettop10worst-38http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cnettop10worst-38http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-keyevents-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAPIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-cehistory-43http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_3.0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_3.0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-findingsoffact-50http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-usvms-49http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-thocp1-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unixhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_Copenhagenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Microsoft&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-48http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-46http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft#cite_note-46http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux


10/12

Windows XPintroduced anew interface, along with many othernew features. This screenshot shows Windows XP

Professional.

Microsoft releasedWindows XPandOffice XPin 2001, a version that aimed to encompass the features of both

its business and home product lines. The release included an updated version of the Windows 2000 kernel,

enhanced DOS emulation abilities, and many of the home-user features found in previous consumer versions.

XP introduced a newgraphical user interface, the first such change since Windows 95.[6][52]The operating

system was the first to requireMicrosoft Product Activation, ananti-piracymechanism that requires users to

activate the software with Microsoft within 30 days. Later, Microsoft would enter the multi-billion-dollargame

consolemarket dominated bySonyandNintendo, with the release of theXbox.[6]The Xbox finished behind the

dominantPlayStation 2selling 24 million units compared to thePlayStation 2's 136 million however they

managed to outsell theNintendo Gamecubewhich sold 21 million units. Microsoft launched their second

console, theXbox 360, in 2005 which has turned out to be a lot more successful than their first console. It

has sold 40 million units as of 2010 and it has outsold Sony'sPlayStation 3which has so far sold 35 million

units. However, despite beating Sony with their last Xbox console, Microsoft so far has been outsold by

theNintendo Wiiwhich introducedgesture controland opened up a new market for video games. Microsoft

later used their popular controller-freeKinectperipheral to increase the popularity of the Xbox. This was very

successful. As of 2011 Kinect was the fastest selling consumer electronics product in history.[53]It sold 8 million

units from November 4, 2010 to January 3, 2011 (its first 60 days). It averaged 133,333 units per day,

outselling the iPhone and iPad over equivalent post-launch periods.[53]

In 2002, Microsoft launched the.NETinitiative, along with new versions of some of its development products,

such asMicrosoft Visual Studio.

[6]

The initiative has been an entirely new development API for Windowsprogramming, and includes a new programming language,C#.Windows Server 2003was launched, featuring

enhanced administration abilities, such as new user interfaces to server tools.[8]In 2004, the company

releasedWindows XP Media Center Edition 2005, a version of Windows XP designed for multimedia abilities,

andWindows XP Starter Edition, a version of Windows XP with a smaller feature set designed for entry-level

consumers.[6]However, Microsoft would encounter more turmoil in March 2004 when antitrust legal action would
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