It was the year 1975 when two passionate about technology, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, They registered a company called Microsoft in Alburquerque, New Mexico. Allen was the creator of the name, which combined microcomputer and software words. His first project was to adapt a programming language for Altair 8800, one of the first personal computers (which will surely sound to you if you are Boomer). Since then, the 50 -year -old whore has passed and the company is the second most valuable company in the world, behind Apple (His world revenues in 2023 were 211,999 million dollars).
Throughout its history there are numerous milestones that deserve to be highlighted: While it is true that they have managed to get ahead on numerous occasions (few technological giants can boast of having survived and even prospered over five decades), we must not lose sight of the fact that the pressure for not being left behind is constant in their sector. And more and more, considering all the technological challenges in which we are immersed. But let’s go with the twelve milestones (they could be some more) that changed the course of the company’s history and also, your way of interacting with computers at work and at home.
1981, launch of the MS-DOS operating system. Although it may seem otherwise, Microsoft did not create that operating system but bought the original Tim Paterson for $ 50,000 and modified it so that it could be used in IBM computers. The system name responds to Microsoft Disk Operating System.
November 1985, Windows 1.0 is launched to the market The name of the ‘window’ will begin to be part of the life of the common mortals: Windows 1.0 is an extension of the MS-dos operating system but in a graphic operational environment that allows the user to move between windows simply by clicking with the mouse (today does not seem innovative but we do not lose sight of that we are in 1985 …). Bill Gates said in his day: “It is an exclusive software designed for the user of the serious PC.” Behind that first program will arrive a whole of Windows that will have greater or lesser glory according to their functionalities and development.
Windows 1.0 came with several programs: Paint, Writer, notes and calculator bloc, as well as a calendar and a clock. He even brought a game. Two years later Windows 2.0 would arrive. To be able to play the lonely and search (they will sound on the aodine games but in their day they were totally successful) We will have to wait for Windows 3.0system that will be used more and more at work and also, at home. March 1986: The company goes over with an initial price of $ 21 per share on its first day of contribution the title ends at $ 28 per share. A month before the company had moved to the Redmond corporate campus, in Washington.
1988, Microsoft becomes the world’s largest computer equipment software company in sales volume. That was also the year that the American company landed in our country where it has been growing in a sustained way over time.
Office arrives in June 1989. The company launches a software package that includes essential programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which were the first to be marketed. There would also be a pro version.
August 1995: Windows 95 launch. We talk about the largest announcement of the company until that date that had a great sales success. We are in the Era of Modems, of email … The program was presented in 12 languages and with Internet telephone connection. In Windows 95 the start menu and the taskbar appear for the first time.
June 1998: Windows 98 launch. We talk about the first version of the program designed specifically for consumers.
January 2000: Bill Gates names CEO from the company to Steve Ballmer. This year they also launch Office 2000, the program around which the idea of the company to work “without limits” revolves.
November 2001: arrives Xbox launches the first version of the video console. Four years later they will launch the Xbox 360 with a portfolio of more than 300 games that will be available in almost 40 countries at the end of 2007.
Year 2008 Gates begins to release ballast already dedicate more time to his work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from where, among other needs, finances the search for the malaria vaccine to what millions of dollars have allocated.
Bing search engine in mid -2009. Yes, it is difficult to compete with Google. In fact, saying “web search” is to say Google, moreover, we usually say “I am going to google”, the metonymy (designate something with the name of something else) is something within the reach of very few, that they tell them if not to the albal paper … but retaking the search engine: although many gave it by ko for many years, the truth is that Bing has been growing quite sustained. No, it is not a rival for Google but there it is: at the end of 2018 it did not exceed 3% of searches while currently already spider 11% …
Satya Nadella is appointed new CEO in February 2014. That same year the company acquires the Nokia device and services business for which it paid 7.2 billion dollars. It was an important expenditure but the largest operation in history arrived a couple of years later when the company bought LinkedIn for a whopping 26.2 billion dollars.
We could continue to swell this list with important moments in the company that have left names that are all familiar to us: Hotmail (renamed outlook), Internet Explorer, etc. Today everyone knows what Microsoft is, not in vain is installed in more than 70% of the world’s computers. Present in more than 190 countries, the company has 228,000 employees And it has become a fundamental actor in the software but also the cloud, video games and business services. Among their current priorities and how could it be otherwise, AI (in fact, last year announced that they quadrupled their investment in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure). And although the competition is important and the challenges also, everything seems to indicate that Microsoft will remain alive and cool, adapting as it has been doing to be there what less than another 50 years.
