History of Computers - Microsoft

--Wirvine 15:12, 7 October 2008 (CDT)By William Irvine

Introduction

Microsoft has become one of the dominant companies in the computer business, and currently sells the most used operating system, and develops many other programs.

Overview

Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. In 1980, Microsoft became a partner with IBM, which allowed Microsoft’s operating system to be sold with IBM’s computers, which was the first step in its gaining importance. In 1985, IBM requested that Microsoft create another OS, the OS/2. Microsoft did so, but also sold their own version, which quickly outsold the OS/2. Microsoft quickly came to dominate the Operating system market, and the office application market with Microsoft Office. Microsoft also began to insinuate itself into the internet with the development of Internet Explorer, which is still one of the most used browsers.

Microsoft has a long line of popular operating systems like Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP, Vista, and most recently to be released late 2009, Windows 7. MS-DOS was also a microsoft operating system before Windows was created. Windows 95 brought with it a novel invention, a start button. Also, internet explorer was released quickly after with Windows 95 Plus. Windows 95 was a revolution in Microsoft operating systems. Windows 98 was an update of Windows 95 with more internet focused features. Windows XP was Microsoft's first operating system to integrate features from both it's home and business product lines. Microsoft has come out with Windows 8 and Windows 10 as of 2015. Both Windows 8 and Windows 10 are compatible on most up to date PC's and phones made by Microsoft.

Significance

Microsoft is the 66th largest company in the world, and is a major force in the computer industry. After its release, Windows quickly came to control the market, with 90% of all operating systems being a form of Windows. Microsoft office also has an incredible importance to today’s modern business, as almost everyone has used Microsoft Word or PowerPoint at some point.

Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft
• http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/18/biz_07forbes2000_The-Global-2000_Company_12.html
• http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_flshbk.htm#hp1
• http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/Windows.htm
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/features

--Wirvine 15:12, 7 October 2008 (CDT)