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the beginning
Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion in computer programming, were seeking to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. In 1972 they founded their first company named Traf-O-Data, which offered a rudimentary computer that tracked and analyzed automobile traffic data. -
officially established
They officially established Microsoft on April 4, 1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the original name of "Micro-Soft," the combination of the words microcomputer and software, as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article -
ASCII Microsoft
In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, "ASCII Microsoft". The company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979. -
Xenix
Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, called Xenix. -
The company expanded
The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft Press.: Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in February after developing Hodgkin's disease. -
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20, 1985 -
Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond
Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond on February 26, 1986, and on March 13 the company went public the ensuing rise in the stock would make an estimated four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees -
microsoft office
In 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office. The software bundled separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. -
Windows 3.0
On May 22 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 with a streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor. Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective areas -
Microsoft began to redefine
on May 26, 1995, Microsoft began to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web -
Windows 95
The company released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, featuring pre-emptive multitasking, a completely new user interface with a novel start button, and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API. -
Bill Gates Chief Software Architect
Bill Gates handed over the CEO position on January 13, 2000, to Steve Ballmer, an old college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, creating a new position for himself as Chief Software Architect -
windows XP
On October 25, 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT codebase. The company released the Xbox later that year, entering the game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo -
Windows Vista
Released in January 2007, the next version of Windows, Windows Vista, focused on features, security, and a redesigned user interface dubbed Aero. Microsoft Office 2007, released at the same time -
Windows 7
on October 22, 2009, the first retail Microsoft Store opened in Scottsdale, Arizona; the same day the first store opened, Windows 7 was officially released to the public -
Windows Mobile
in 2010, Microsoft revamped their aging flagship mobile operating system, Windows Mobile, replacing it with the new Windows Phone OS -
Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface.
On October 26, 2012, Microsoft launched Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface. Three days later, Windows Phone 8 was launched. To cope with the potential for an increase in demand for products and services, -
xbox one
Xbox One is a video game console developed and marketed by Microsoft. Announced on May 21, 2013, -
buy Nokia's mobile
On September 3, 2013, Microsoft agreed to buy Nokia's mobile unit for $7 billion -
windows 8
Microsoft previewed Windows 8
