Microsoft was founded in 1975 by William H. Gates III (Bill Gates). The company 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.
Shortly after incorporation in 1981, IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft’s 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0. In 1986, Microsoft went public and in 1989 the company introduced its earliest version of the Microsoft Office Suite productivity applications. In 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3.0 and continued to release newer versions throughout its long history.
In 1995, Bill Gates communicates Microsoft’s commitment to supporting and enhancing the Internet with the company’s .NET strategy for Web services introduced in 2000. The company’s innovation continued with the launch of Tablet PC in 2002, the Xbox 360 in 2005, Bing decision engine in 2009, and the Windows Phone 7 in 2010. Microsoft has continued is growth through various acquisitions including: Skype, Yammer, and LinkedIn.
Microsoft has grown to a company of over 130,000 employees with Operation Centers and Subsidiaries all over the world.1
In November, 2018, Microsoft announced that it is readying its HoloLens augmented reality tech for combat. The company won a $480 million military contract with the U.S. government to bring AR headset tech into the weapons repertoire of American soldiers.2
Anonymous on March 10, 2020