Does Microsoft Have Too Much Power?
Initially, there is nothing. Then, there is Bill Gates the founder of
Microsoft. Once a young, eager teenager running a small business of other teenagers, now the richest man in the world controlling an operating system practically every IBM compatible computer in the world uses. Computers are not the only thing that Microsoft desires. Now, they wish to influence the Internet.
With all the opportunities that it offers, many companies race to develop software to get people and businesses on the Internet. Many dislike the power
Microsoft has come to possess and might gain more of, but is there anything anybody can do? IBM has taken on the leader of software with an innovative new operating system known as OS/2, but will they have a chance? Microsoft may be unstoppable with its foundation, influence and power but is that enough to practically own the computerized world as we know it?
Usually, when we mention Microsoft in any form, we must have the registered trademark symbol right the word. The name is a well-known word in virtually everyone's life. Although it is the super-empire it is today,
Microsoft was once a small software business ran by a young Bill Gates in a tiny office. Consisting of a few young adults, they were not progressing as much as they would like too. Their competitor, Digital Research, created the first operating system, known as the CP/M-86 system. Though, no...
After reading the January 1, 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer, MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), offering to demonstrate an implementation of the BASIC programming language for the system.[22] Gates had neither an interpreter nor an Altair system, yet in the eight weeks before the demo he and Allen developed the interpreter. The interpreter worked at the demo and MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC.[7] Gates left Harvard University, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft there. The name Microsoft, without the hyphen, was first used in a letter from Gates to Allen on November 29, 1975,[7] and on November 26, 1976 the name became a registered trademark.[22] The company's first international office was founded on November 1, 1978, in Japan, entitled "ASCII Microsoft" (now called "Microsoft Japan").[22] On January 1, 1979, the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home in Bellevue, Washington. [22] Steve Ballmer joined the company on June 11, 1980, and would later succeed Bill Gates as CEO.[22] The company restructured on June 25, 1981, to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington (with a further change of its name to "Microsoft, Inc."). As part of the restructuring, Bill Gates became president of the company and Chairman of the Board, and Paul Allen became Executive Vice President.[22]
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft has always focused on software but the types of devices have changed over time. Initially Microsoft’s software was developed primarily for desktop computers and this continued until the mid-2000s when computers shifted from desktop computing to mobile devices (mainly laptops). In 2011 Microsoft started rebranding the company to fit en even more mobile market. They previewed their Windows 8 operating system with a focus on touch screen devices with different touch screen form factors. Microsoft also entered into the hardware business with the creation of its Surface tablet in 2012. Microsoft has always had a big impact in the commercial market providing many different software packages including: Windows, Windows Server pr...
Microsoft’s mission of placing a “PC running Microsoft software on every desk and in every home” drove their overall strategy early on. Depending on the business segment within Microsoft, one would see in place very different business models as the strategy for each line of business could vary. In the operating system (OS) segment, Microsoft initially brought in an existing product and modified this (MS-DOS) to work with the Intel microprocessor, which were the “brains” of the IBM PC. Microsoft partnered with IBM to provide the operating system for the IBM PC. In addition to developing Windows, Microsoft during this period was working to write applications for the Apple OS.
After having helped found what would be the world’s most popular and largest software company in 1975, Bill Gates officially found himself to be the richest man alive at the ripe, young age of only thirty-one. Gates had never imagined that the thirteen year old boy who loved to program computers in his parent’s garage would one day find himself to be considered the world’s wealthiest man alive, having a total net worth of $76 billion. Having began on his own, tinkering with computers and computer software, Gates later created the seed of Microsoft, or what was originally called Traf-O-Data in the summer of 1972. (Fast Facts) It wasn’t until two years later, with the help of his co-founder, Paul Allen that Microsoft was born, transforming the technological world in ways that the people had never seen. The birth of Microsoft changed the ways of old computers, making way for faster newer and more innovative technology, along with bringing on a strong competition with their rival company, Apple Inc. With this grand cooperation, Bill Gates was also accumulating a large mass of money, gradually finding himself to top the charts of the Forbes World Billionaires List. (Fast Facts) Despite being well known for his contributions to Microsoft, Bill Gates’ most profound impact on the American culture was in medical and educational advances provided by The Gates foundation, paralleled by his philanthropic views and aid in the lives of the both poor and wealthy.
To meet and respond to its customers needs, IBM creates, develops and manufactures many of the worlds most advanced technologies, ranging from computer systems and software to networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. Indeed, IBM has various product lines and services a few of which are: the Personal Computer that was first created in 1981, AS/400 business system, RS/6000 family of workstations and server systems, S/390 enterprise server, groundbreaking ThinkPad notebook computer; the award-winning IBM Netfinity and finally, PC Servers. It is an important supplier of hard disks, random access memories, and liquid crystal monitors.
Microsoft was originally created in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They first introduced their software package, Window 1.0 in 1983, the first package to consist of a mouse which helps navigate a PC. MS-DOS commands were previously used to operate computer systems, however people found these extremely hard to understand. This Windows 1.0 package was a key turning point in Microsoft emergence. As time progressed Microsoft created updated versions which consisted of advanced graphics, built-in internet support, dial-up networking and much more (Microsoft, 2011). Windows packages started from Window 1.0 to the current version whic...
Microsoft is the leading and the largest Software Company in the world. Found by William Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 Microsoft has grown and become a multibillion company in only ten years. It all started with a great vision – “a computer on every desk and every home” - that seemed almost impossible at the time. Now Microsoft has over 44,000 employees in 60 countries, net income of $3.45 billion and revenue of 11.36 billion. Company dramatic growth and success was driven by development and marketing of operational systems and personal productivity applications software.
Microsoft has always been known as a software company, and not well known for its hardware. In fact, the only hardware that Microsoft sells to the retail market is branded peripherals. In its heyday, Microsoft was a market leader, bring an operating system to the masses, and leading in internet search. In recent years, however, most of the moves that Microsoft has made have not been in a market leader position, but have been in response to competitors threatening Microsoft’s positions.
Mirick, J. (1996). William H. Gates III: before Microsoft. Retrieved January 26, 2007, from http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Gates.Mirick.html#computing.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Paul Allen a dropout from the University of Washington and Bill Gates a drop out from Harvard University were friends from childhood with a ultimate passion for computer programming. In 1975, Paul Allen viewed an article in a famous electronics magazine regarding the Altair 8800. As Allen showed the article to Gates they realized together that this was the perfect time to enter into programming and seize the opportunity. Gates after speaking with officials at Altair somehow convinced them into giving his software a chance and after a meeting with the company he succeeded in gaining the confidence of Altair. Now together Allen and Gates began to write the program immediately and after a tireless amount of effort they finally succeeded. Through the success of this venture both Allen and Gates together were sure that they could do something big as their confidence in themselves and their programming skills grew larger as finally on November 26, 1976, Microsoft was registered with the secretary of State of New Mexico.
This was the same year when Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft. In 1981, Bill Gates’ company was hired to develop an operating system but rather than creating a new operating system they decided to buy a preexisting operation system called QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) for the amount of 50,000 dollars. After modifying the operating system they bought, they renamed the operating system to MS-DOS. After MS-DOS began selling it brought in a steady income for Gates due to the fact that the PC market was growing and there weren’t many competitors in the market for them to compete with. In 1986, when Microsoft Corporation went public, it made Gates into a millionaire overnight. The following year, Microsoft released their first ever version of
The company was founded in 1975 by William Henry Gates III -- currently the chairman of Microsoft and the wealthiest man in the world -- when he called the makers of a new microcomputer, MITS, and asked to demonstrate the BASIC programming language for the system. After the demonstration, MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC so Bill Gates left Harvard University, moved to where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft in ...
And then there's Microsoft themselves. After Bill Gates handed over CEO to Steve Ballmer, all hell broke loose as humans raged about him. During the first twenty years of Microsoft, they were considered an evil monopolistic empire, destroying all competitors that came their way. Back then, if you wanted word processing software, you used Office. Want a computer o...
Microsoft is a computing software company. Microsoft was made and founded on April 4th 1975 by two young men who were captivated by computers. Their names were Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The homebase was in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft became one of the most famous and successful companies in the world. “Microsoft was one of the pioneers responsible for bringing the personal computer into the lives of millions of people.” (Musolf). The company has had such a great impact that now the name “Microsoft” is now virtually synonymous with computer software.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite and Internet Explorer web browser. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. Microsoft dominated the personal computer operating system market, until the early 2000 when Apple, Google, and Facebook came about. (Microsoft) This is when the company started to lose its credibility.