microsoft history timeline

On April 4, 1975, at a time when most Americans used typewriters, childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft, a company that makes computer software. Originally based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Microsoft relocated to Washington State in 1979 and eventually grew into a major multinational technology corporation. In 1987, the year after Microsoft went public, 31-year-old Gates became the world’s youngest billionaire.
Gates and Allen started Microsoft—originally called Micro-Soft, for microprocessors and software—in order to produce software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer. Allen quit his job as a programmer in Boston and Gates left Harvard University, where he was a student, to focus on their new company, which was based in Albuquerque because the city was home to electronics firm MITS, maker of the Altair 8800. By the end of 1978, Microsoft’s sales topped more than $1 million and in 1979 the business moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, where Gates and Allen grew up. The company went on to license its MS-DOS operating system to IBM for its first personal computer, which debuted in 1981. Afterward, other computer companies started licensing MS-DOS, which had no graphical interface and required users to type in commands in order to open a program. In 1983, Allen departed Microsoft after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma; he was successfully treated for the disease and went on to pursue a variety of other business ventures.

1990 to 1995 – Windows 3.0 is launched in 1990 and five years later, Windows 95 is released and sales surpass 1 million copies in four days. PC sales begin to explode as computers make their way into homes, schools and business, kicking off the “Windows era.”
2005 – The next-generation Xbox 360 goes on sale in November.

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
As of June 30, 2019

One of the most notable aspects of this case was a charge related to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) licenses. Under this practice, Microsoft required any company wanting to use its products to sign an agreement agreeing to pay Microsoft a royalty for each computer the company shipped regardless of whether that computer ran a Microsoft operating system. This created, in the words of the Justice Department filing, a “tax” on every computer shipped without using a Microsoft product.
• 1975 – Gates and Allen officially found Microsoft

2016 – Microsoft takes the boldest move by buying LinkedIn for $28.2 Billion.
1985 – Bill Gates launches 1st Version of Operating System – Windows 1.0 and at the same time becomes the Billionaire at the age of 31.

Resources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-succession-timeline/timeline-microsofts-journey-four-decades-three-ceos-idUSBREA131R720140204
http://news.microsoft.com/facts-about-microsoft/
http://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-microsoft-15073246
http://www.infoclutch.com/infographic/microsoft-company-history-timeline
http://openbookproject.net/courses/intro2ict/history/history.html