Who invented Microsoft? Find Out the Whole Story Behind the Company!

It's doubtful, these days, that you've never used a Microsoft product.

This billion-dollar company dominates practically 90% of the market in which it operates and is everywhere, such as on personal computers, mobile phones, at work, at the hospital, and wherever else you think.

But what exactly is Microsoft, how it was created, and what path did it take to become everything it stands for today?

Come with us for those topics and we'll tell you everything!

• What is Microsoft?
• Who invented Microsoft?
• Microsoft vs Apple
• Browser War
• Windows 95 and WordPad
• Windows XP
• What are Microsoft consumer products?

What is Microsoft?

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational located in Bellevue Washington. The company is the largest developer of software and technological resources today.

Its activities are focused on the development, licensing and sales of software for computers and other electronic devices, as well as other products in the technological sector.

The most famous segments of Microsoft are Windows operating systems, the Office suite, Explorer browser, Xbox video game console, Surface tablets, and Microsoft Lumia Smartphones (Nokia).

Some of Microsoft's applications are so important within companies that they become prerequisites for some professionals to apply for job openings, such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

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In 2022, Microsoft ranked as the third most valuable brand in the world, valued at US$ 210.2 billion. Who created such a valuable company?

Who invented Microsoft?

Bill Gates (then a student at Harvard) and Paul Allen (who had just dropped out of the University of Washington), had become childhood friends and, after a reunion in college, founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They created software in BASIC language for IBM's Altair 8800 computer.

They worked from home, on their computers, and had no idea that they would become billionaires and owners of the largest software developer in the world.

In the year 1976, Microsoft released FORTRAN, for CP/M-based computers.

Later, Microsoft was approached by IBM for the development of the operating system for its new computer.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen didn't have the complete system, so they bought Q-DOS from Seattle Computer Products and improved the system by creating Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS).

This deal was a game-changer as it made the Microsoft founders rich, as they included a clause requiring exclusivity on IBM computers.

At this moment, the first of many controversies involving the company took place.

Microsoft vs Apple

Steve Jobs, the owner of Apple, had taken the graphical interface and the idea of ​​using a mouse from another company, Xerox, and added it to his product, creating the Macintosh.

Bill Gates convinced Jobs to let him join the project and released a Macintosh-like version in Japan. That's when Microsoft's international expansion began, but Jobs, not satisfied with this situation, broke the alliance between the two companies.

Microsoft also began to venture into the hardware market, varying its area of ​​expertise.

Windows 1.0

The next step was the creation of Windows 1.0, to create a more intuitive use system, colorful interface, notepad, calculator, clock, scroll bars, calendar, and the multitasking feature, revolutionizing computing.

When Microsoft went public, selling shares on the stock market, the brand was so valued that there were 3 billionaires and 12 millionaires among its executives.

Microsoft Works was a precursor to Microsoft Office and had Word, Excel, and PowerPoint when it was released, programs that are still widely used in companies and for personal use.

Microsoft provides an Office package containing several of its software and the user can pay an annual fee to access it. There have already been several versions, such as Office 365, Office 2013, and currently Office 2016.

Windows 2.0

The Windows 2.0 version was marred by the lawsuit, in which Apple sued Microsoft alleging a breach of 189 copyrights. But, he lost in all actions and others were not even judged.

Windows 3.0 innovated by bringing games, task management, and print management. More than 10 million copies were sold and Microsoft software became the most used worldwide.

Versions continue to be released to this day and Windows competitors don't even come close to threatening Microsoft's hegemony.

Web Browsers War

When the Internet boom hit, Bill Gates' company soon rushed to buy Spyglass's Internet Explorer 1.0 browser.

The companies signed an agreement in which Spyglass would receive a percentage for the browsers sold, the problem is that Microsoft gave away Explorer for free included in Windows 95.

Spyglass sued Microsoft for acting in bad faith and won eight million dollars in damages in court.

The fact is that this move by Microsoft led its browser to overthrow competitor Netscape, which was used by 90% of the public and dropped to 1% while Explorer dominated the market.

Netscape sued Microsoft and the US court considered the practice of bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system to be monopolistic and illegal.

However, the decision came too late for Netscape, which was unable to recover from this blow. Then, Apple and Microsoft struck a deal that further contributed to Internet Explorer's market domination.

Microsoft and Apple Make it Up

MS bought 150 million dollars in Apple stock, at a time when the company came very close to bankruptcy in exchange, all computers of Steve Jobs' company left the factory with the Microsoft browser.

These aggressive practices for market domination resulted in Microsoft being sued in more than twenty US states and even internationally.

But that didn't stop the company, which continued to seek to update itself and stay ahead of all the market's novelties, always maintaining itself as one of the most valued brands in the world.

Windows 95 and WordPad

WordPad was introduced with Windows 95, replacing Microsoft Write, the software that came with all previous versions of Windows.

The source code of the software was distributed by Microsoft as a sample application, the Microsoft Foundation Class Library.

The default font used in the software in Windows 95 until Windows Vista was Arial size 10 and from Windows 7 onwards, Calibri size 11 was used, something that also happened in the Office package.

Windows XP

Windows XP, released in 2001, was a success, selling over 1 billion copies.

He also introduced us to the late MSN, which was a program that allowed the exchange of instant messages between people from all over the world and that had a very strong appeal, especially among young people.

Who doesn't remember the option to activate the song you were listening to? Or that button to get someone's attention vibrating the screen? This was all provided by Microsoft!

Later, with cell phone technology, MSN fell into disuse and ended up being replaced by Skype.

What are Microsoft consumer products?

Microsoft is always getting among the most valuable brands. Bill Gates became the richest man in the world from 1995 to 2007, in 2009, and from 2014 to 2017.

Let's list some of the  Microsoft’s most popular electronics products and services around the world:

1. Xbox

In 2001, MS also entered the video game market, launching the Xbox, which came to compete with Sony and Nintendo.

When released, it had the capacity of a graphic three times that of its competitors, which quickly made it one of the best-selling consoles in the world.

One of its updates, the Xbox 360, sold over 86 million copies worldwide.

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint is used for creating, editing, and displaying presentations, in which you can insert texts, images, audio, and videos.

3. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that offers products and services for building, running, and managing applications for businesses. Microsoft Azure can be used for healthcare, financial, government and manufacturing services.

4. Microsoft Excel

It is a program for creating electronic spreadsheets, built from cells organized in rows and columns.

This application can be used to perform several tasks, such as performing simple and complex calculations, creating a database, creating reports and graphs, forecasting and trend analysis, and statistical and financial analysis.

Because of this, Excel is widely used in companies and its domain is mandatory in many functions.

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