Microsoft History

William H. Gates III and Paul Allen for years both from the world's top fortunes founded in 1975, Microsoft (originally Micro-soft) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In that year, Popular Electronics magazine devoted its cover and an article to the Altair 8800, the first personal computer. The article encouraged to develop the first version of the programming language BASIC for the Altair computer. I bought the license for this software to Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the manufacturer of the Altair, and began to develop versions of BASIC for other companies in the sector. Apple Computer, computer manufacturer Apple II, Commodore, maker of PET, and Tandy Corporation, maker of computer Radio Shack TRS-80, all companies set up by then, were the first customers of Microsoft.

In 1977 Microsoft launched its second product, Microsoft FORTRAN, another programming language, and soon brought out versions of the BASIC language for microprocessors 8080 and 8086. MS-DOS in 1979 in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle, the city where both were born. The move to Redmond, close to Bellevue, was in 1986.

In 1980 IBM hired Microsoft to write the operating system for IBM PC, which would market the following year. Pressured by time constraints, Microsoft bought QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) to Tim Paterson, a programmer in Seattle, for $ 50,000 and changed its name to MS-DOS. The contract signed with IBM allowed Microsoft to sell operating system to other companies. In 1984 Microsoft had licensed MS-DOS 200 computer manufacturers, and thus the operating system became the most widely used PC, allowing Microsoft to grow as rapidly in the 1980's.
In 1982 was released Multiplan, a spreadsheet program, and the following year went on sale the word processor called Microsoft Word.
In 1984 Microsoft was one of the first software company dedicated to developing applications for the Macintosh, a personal computer company founded by Apple Computer. Microsoft achieved great success selling Macintosh software such as Word, Excel and Works (a group of integrated applications in one package). However, Multiplan for MS-DOS was almost completely replaced by the famous Spreadsheet Lotus Development Corporation, Lotus 1-2-3.

In 1985 Microsoft released Windows, an operating system that benefits extended MS-DOS and incorporated first graphical user interface. Windows 2.0, which was released in 1987. Three years later came a new version, Windows 3.0, which was followed by Windows 3.1 and 3.11. Windows was preinstalled on new computers going out to the market that made this the most popular operating system of its kind. In 1990 Microsoft became the leading software from powerful applications to games, and reached annual sales of over one billion dollars.
Microsoft began operating in the field of media and created The Microsoft Network in 1995 and MSNBC a year later. Furthermore, in 1996 Microsoft introduced Windows CE, an operating system for handhelds. In 1997, Microsoft paid $ 425 million for the acquisition of WebTV Networks, a maker of low-cost devices to connect televisions to the Internet. That same year, Microsoft invested one billion dollars in Comcast Corporation, a U.S. operator of cable television as part of its policy of extending the availability of high-speed connections to the Internet. In June 1998 Microsoft released Windows 98, which includes built for Internet access. The following month Bill Gates named company president Steve Ballmer, previously executive vice president, and he became responsible for overseeing the daily business of Microsoft. In 1999 the company launched Windows 2000, the latest version of Windows NT operating system.

In January 2000, Bill Gates handed over his post as chief executive officer (CEO) to Ballmer, a change that has allowed it to focus on the development of new products and technologies.
The enhanced version of W2000 and integration with some of the subsystems successfully tested on Windows ME resulted in Windows XP and 30 January 2007 they released Windows Vista.
One of the latest raids were the failed Microsoft bid for Yahoo, which was rejected by its founders.