Microsoft Corporation or often just MS, is an technology with 79,000 employees in 102 countries and global annual of 51.12 as of 2007. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products for computing devices. Headquartered in , , its best selling products are the and the suite of productivity software. These products have prominent positions in the market, with estimates as high as 90% or more as of 2003 for Microsoft Office and 2006 for Microsoft Windows. One of key visions is "to get a workstation running our software onto every desk and eventually in every home".
Founded to develop and sell for the , Microsoft rose to dominate the operating system market with in the mid-1980s. The company released an the, which, due to the ensuing rise of the stock price, has made four and an estimated 12,000 from Microsoft employees. Throughout its history the company has been the target of criticism for various reasons, including business practices—both the the, among others, brought Microsoft to court for and software bundling.
Microsoft has footholds in other markets besides operating systems and office suites, with assets such as the network, the, and the multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both products such as the and products such as the, and Known for what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has historically given customer support over newsgroups and the awards status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in assisting the company's customers. The company's official website is one of the most visited on the Internet, receiving more than 2.4 million unique page views per day according to Alexa.com, which ranked the site 18th amongst all websites for traffic rank on.
History
1975–1985: Founding
Following the launch of the called the creators of the new , (MITS), offering to demonstrate an implementation of the for the system. After the demonstration, MITS agreed to distribute .[26] left , moved to where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft there. The company's first international office was founded on , , in Japan, entitled " Microsoft" (now called "").[the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home in . joined the company on , , and later succeeded Bill Gates as
System) was the operating system that brought the company its first real success. On after negotiations with failed, a contract to Microsoft to provide a version of the operating system, which was set to be used in the upcoming (PC). For this deal, Microsoft purchased a clone called from , which IBM renamed to . Later, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones after successfully cloned the IBM , and by aggressively marketing to manufacturers of IBM-PC clones, Microsoft rose from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer industry. company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named .
1985–1995: OS/2 and Windows
In August 1985, Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a different operating system called On released its first retail version of , originally a graphical extension for its MS-DOS operating system. On , the company went public with an IPO, with a starting initial offering price of $21.00 and ending at the first day of trading as at US $28.00. In 1987, Microsoft eventually released their first version of OS/2 to .
In 1989, Microsoft introduced its flagship , . This was a bundle of separate office productivity applications, such as and . On , launched The new version of Microsoft's operating system processor; it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks. 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. In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and Windows quickly became the favored PC platform.
During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft's product allowed the company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such as and . According to , Novell, an owner of WordPerfect for a time, alleged that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and of undocumented features to make Office perform better than its competitors. Eventually, Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with a far exceeding that of its competitors.
In 1993, Microsoft released , a business operating system with the Windows 3.1 user interface but an entirely different kernel. In 1995, Microsoft released , a new version of the company's flagship operating system which featured a completely new user interface, including a novel ; more than a million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days after its release. The company also released its , , with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack in August 1995 and subsequent Windows versions.
1995–2005: Internet and legal issues
In the mid-90s, Microsoft began to expand its product line into and the . On , , it launched a major , (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to . MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services. The company continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture with to create a new 24/7 cable news station, Microsoft entered the personal digital assistant (PDA) market in November with , a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, specifically designed to run on low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other small computers. Later in 1997, was released for both and Windows, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival . In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal in 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.
The year 1998 was significant in Microsoft's history, with Bill Gates appointing as president of Microsoft but remaining as Chair and CEO himself. The company released , an update to Windows 95 that incorporated a number of Internet-focused features and support for new types of devices. On judgement was handed down in the case of , calling the company an "abusive monopoly" and forcing the company to split into two separate units. Part of this ruling was later overturned by a federal , and eventually settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001.
codebase. XP introduced a new In 2001, Microsoft released first version that encompassed the features of both its business and home product lines. Before XP was released, Microsoft had to maintain both the and the , the first such change since Windows 95. Later, with the release of the Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar market dominated by and Microsoft encountered more turmoil in March 2004 when antitrust legal action was brought against it by the for abusing its current dominance with the Windows operating system (see eventually resulting in a judgement to produce new versions of its Windows XP platform—called Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N—that did not include its
2006–present: Vista and other transitions
In 2006, Bill Gates announced a two year transition period from his role as Chief , which would be taken by , and planned to remain the company's chairman, head of the Board of Directors and act as an adviser on key projects. As of December 2007, , released in January 2007, is Microsoft's latest operating system. was released at the same time; its "" user interface is a significant departure from its predecessors.
On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase internet services competitor for up to $44.6 billion, though this offer was rejected on February 10.
Microsoft announced on February 21, 2008 that it will share more information about its products and technology in order to make it easier for developers to create software that works with its products.
Product divisions
To be more precise in tracking performance of each unit and delegating responsibility, Microsoft reorganized into seven core business groups—each an independent financial entity—in April 2002. Later, on , Microsoft announced a rationalization of its original seven business groups into the three core divisions that exist today: the Windows Client, MSN and Server and Tool groups were merged into the Microsoft Platform Products and Services Division; the Information Worker and Microsoft Business Solutions groups were merged into the Microsoft Business Division; and the and Home and Entertainment groups were merged into the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division
Platform Products and Services Division
This division produces Microsoft's product, the Windows operating system. It has been produced in many versions, including . Almost all come with Windows preinstalled. The current desktop version of Windows is Windows Vista. The , the cable television station and the Microsoft online magazine Slate are all part of this division. (Slate was acquired by on , .) At the end of 1997, Microsoft acquired most popular service, which it rebranded as "MSN Hotmail". In 1999, Microsoft introduced , an client, to compete with the popular . Along with Windows Vista, MSN Messenger became .
is the company's set of tools and . The software product is GUI-oriented and links easily with the , but configured if used with non-Microsoft libraries. The current version is . The previous version, was a major improvement over its predecessor, Visual Studio.Net 2003, named after the .NET initiative, a Microsoft marketing initiative covering a number of technologies. Microsoft's definition of .NET continues to evolve. As of 2004, .NET aims to ease the development of Microsoft Windows-based applications that use the Internet, by deploying a new Microsoft communications system, Indigo (now renamed ). This is intended to address some issues previously introduced by Microsoft's DLL design, which made it difficult, even impossible in some situations, to manage, install multiple versions of complex on the same system (see ), and provide a more consistent development platform for all Windows applications (see ). In addition, the Company established a set of certification programs to recognize individuals who have expertise in its software and solutions. Similar to offerings from , , , , and , these tests are designed to identify a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this includes developers (), system/network analysts (), trainers administrators ( and ).
Microsoft offers a suite of software, entitled . , an operating system for network servers, is the core of the Windows Server System line. Another server product, , is a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other server products include:
Business Division
The Microsoft Business Division produces , which is the company's line of office software. The software product includes (a word processor), (a personal relational database application), (a program), y , frequently used with (presentation software), and (). A number of other products were added later with the release of Office 2003 including and
The division focuses on developing financial and business management software for companies. These products include products formerly produced by the Business Solutions Group, which was created in April 2001 with the acquisition of . Subsequently, was acquired to provide a similar entry into the European market, resulting in the planned release of in 2006. The group and Solomon, catering to similar markets, which is scheduled to be combined with the Navision and Great Plains lines into a common platform called
Entertainment and Devices Division
Microsoft has attempted to expand the Windows brand into many other markets, with products such as for and its "Windows-powered" Smartphone products. Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for , which today has developed into 6. The focus of the operating system is on devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular, appliances and cars. The company produces , formerly , a television-based . Microsoft used to sell a set-top (DVR) called the , which allowed users to record up to 35 hours of television programming from a provider . This was the main competition in the UK for 's (BSkyB) SKY + service, owned by . UltimateTV has since been discontinued, with DirecTV instead opting to market DVRs from Inc. before later switching to their own brand.
Microsoft sells that run on Windows PCs, including titles such as , and the series. It produces a line of that include and , under the name Encarta. hosts free premium and retail games where players can compete against each other and in tournaments. Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar market dominated by and in late 2001, with the release of the . The company develops and publishes its own video games for this console, with the help of its subsidiary, in addition to Xbox such as , who pay a license fee to publish games for the system. The Xbox also has a successor in the on - in and other countries. With the , Microsoft hopes to compensate for the losses incurred with the original However, Microsoft made some decisions considered controversial in the video , such as releasing the console with high , selling two different versions of the system, one without the and providing limited with only particular Xbox titles. . In addition to the Xbox line of products, Microsoft also markets a number of other computing-related hardware products as well, including , and , along with other , the production of which is outsourced in most cases. As of 15 November 2007, Microsoft announced the purchase of Musiwave, 's mobile phone music sales business.
Business culture
Microsoft has often been described as having a developer-centric business culture. A great deal of time and money is spent each year on recruiting young university-trained and on keeping them in the company. For example, while many software companies often place an entry-level software developer in a cubicle desk within a large office space filled with other cubicles, Microsoft assigns a private or semiprivate closed office to every developer or pair of developers. In addition, key at every level are either developers or former developers. In a sense, the software developers at Microsoft are considered the "stars" of the company in the same way that the sales staff at IBM are considered the "stars" of their company.
Within Microsoft the expression is used to describe the policy of using the latest Microsoft products inside the company in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations. Only prerelease and beta versions of products are considered dog food. This is usually shortened to just "dogfood" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. The company is also known for their hiring process, dubbed the "", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a round?" and is a process often mimicked in other organizations, although these types of questions are rarer now than they were in the past. For fun, Microsoft also hosts the , an annual (a live puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles) held at the Redmond campus.
As of 2006, Microsoft employees, not including Bill Gates, have given over $2.5 billion dollars to worldwide, making Microsoft the worldwide top company in per-employee In January 2007, the Harris Interactive/The Wall Street Journal Reputation Quotient survey concluded that Microsoft had the world's best corporate reputation, citing strong financial performance, vision & leadership, workplace environment rankings, and the charitable deeds of the
User culture
Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network, often called . MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software. In recent years, Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, , which provides many modern features such as a and an . Another community site that provides daily and other services, On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006.
Most free technical support available through Microsoft is provided through (in the early days it was also provided on ). There are several of these newsgroups for nearly every product Microsoft provides, and often they are monitored by Microsoft employees. People who are helpful on the newsgroups can be elected by other peers or Microsoft employees for (MVP) status, which entitles people to a sort of special social status, in addition to possibilities for awards and other benefits.
Corporate affairs
Corporate structure
The company is run by a Board of Directors consisting of ten people, made up of mostly company outsiders (as is customary for companies). Current members of the are: The ten board members are elected every year at the annual ' meeting, and those who do not get a majority of votes must submit a to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation. There are five committees within the board which oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles matters such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating laws.
There are several other aspects to the corporate structure of Microsoft. For worldwide matters there is the Executive Team, made up of sixteen company officers across the globe, which is charged with various duties including making sure employees understand Microsoft's culture of business. The sixteen officers of the Executive Team include the Chairman and , the CEO, the and Secretary, , senior and group vice presidents from the business units, the CEO of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions; and the heads of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services; ; and Corporate Marketing. In addition to the Executive Team there is also the Corporate Staff Council, which handles all major staff functions of the company, including approving corporate policies. The Corporate Staff Council is made up of employees from the Law and Corporate Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Marketing, and Advanced Strategy and Policy groups at Microsoft. Other include the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the various product divisions, leaders of the marketing section, and the , among others.
Stock
When the company debuted its , the price was US $21. By the close of the first , the stock had closed at $28, equivalent to 9.7 cents when adjusted for the company's first nine The initial close and ensuing rise in subsequent years made several Microsoft employees millions. The stock price peaked in 1999 at around US $119 (US $60.928 adjusting for splits). the company has had nine stock splits, the first of which was in , the company did not start offering a until The dividend for the 2003 eight cents per , followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year. The company switched from yearly to quarterly dividends in 2005, for eight cents a share per quarter with a of three dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year.
Around 2003 the stock price began a slow descent. Despite the company's ninth split on , and subsequent increases in dividend payouts, the price of Microsoft's stock continued to fall for the next several years.
Diversity
In 2005, Microsoft received a 100% rating in the Corporate Equality Index from the , a ranking of companies by how progressive the organization deems their policies concerning (. Partly through the work of the (GLEAM) group, Microsoft added to its anti-discrimination policies in April 2005, and the Human Rights Campaign upgraded Microsoft's Corporate Equality Index from its 86% rating in 2004 to its current 100% rating.
In April 2005, Microsoft received wide criticism for withdrawing support from Washington state's H.B. 1515 bill that would have extended the state's current anti-discrimination laws to people with alternate . Microsoft was accused of bowing to pressure from local evangelical pastor who met with a senior Microsoft executive and threatened a national boycott of Microsoft's products. Microsoft also revealed they were paying evangelical conservative 's company Century Strategies a $20,000 monthly fee. Over 2,000 employees signed a petition asking Microsoft to reinstate support for the bill. Under harsh criticism from both outside and inside the company's walls, Microsoft decided to support the bill again in May 2005.
Microsoft hires many foreign workers as well as domestic ones, and is an outspoken opponent of the cap on , which allow companies in the United States to employ certain foreign workers. Bill Gates claims the cap on H1B visas make it difficult to hire employees for the company, stating "I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap."
Logos and slogans
In 1987, Microsoft adopted its current logo, the so-called " Logo" designed by . According to the March 1987 Computer Reseller News Magazine, "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the o and s to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed." Dave Norris, a Microsoft employee, ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter O, nicknamed the blibbet, but it was discarded.
Microsoft's logo with the "Your potential. Our passion." tagline below the main corporate name, is based on the slogan Microsoft had as of 2008. In 2002, the company started using the logo in the United States and eventually started a TV campaign with the slogan, changed from the previous tagline of "Where do you want to go today?."
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