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Microsoft History

By KarenmM
  • 1975

    Microsoft was created, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
  • 1975

    Microsoft create their first sell product.
  • 1975

    Microsoft refines and enhances BASIC to sell to other customers including DTC, General Electric, NCR, and Citibank.
  • 1975

    In a letter to Paul Allen, Bill Gates uses the name "Micro-soft" to refer to their (60/40)(3) Partnership. This is the earliest known written reference.
  • 1978

    Their sales extend $ 1 millon.
  • 1979

    Daniel Fylstra writes CalcuLedger and offers it to Apple and Microsoft for $1 million. Both turn him down.
  • 1980

    Ibm approaches Microsoft about a project called chess
  • 1981

    Microsoft, Inc. is incorporated; IBM uses Microsoft's 16-bit operating system for its first personal computer
  • 1981

    Microsoft introduce a new language to the general public.
  • 1981

    Microsoft made a name for itself.
  • 1981

    Microsoft's first wildly successful operating system was MS-DOS or Microsoft Disk Operating System, which Microsoft wrote for IBM based on Tim Paterson's QDOS
  • 1982

    Microsoft, U.K., Ltd. is incorporated.
  • 1982

    Microsoft works on a new operation system called interface.
  • 1983

    Paul Allen resigns as executive vice-president but remains on the board; Jon Shirley is made president of Microsoft (he later becomes CEO); Microsoft introduces the Microsoft Mouse and Word for MS-DOS 1.00.
  • 1983

    Microsoft Mouse was released on.
  • 1983

    End of an era with the resignation of Paul Allen
  • 1984

    Microsoft announces and released Word, Multiplan, File, Chart, BASIC, and other programs.
  • 1985

    Microsoft and IBM forge a joint development agreement.
  • 1986

    The company went public
  • 1986

    Microsoft stock goes public at $21 per share.
  • 1987

    The company's first CD-ROM application, Microsoft Bookshelf, is released.
  • 1987

    They relases Windows 2.0 with desktop icons and expanded memory.
  • 1988

    Microsoft became the worlds largest pc software.
  • 1989

    Microsoft Office was released
  • 1990

    Windows starts to look like the versions to come.
  • 1990

    Jon Shirley retires as president and CEO; Michael R. Hallman is promoted in Shirley's place; the company becomes the first PC software firm to surpass $1 billion of sales in a single year.
  • 1992

    Microsoft announces Windows 3.0, followed shortly by Windows 3.1 in
  • 1993

    The company introduces Windows NT.
  • 1995

    Microsoft releases Windows 95, selling a record-setting 7 million copies in the first five weeks.
  • 1996

    Microsoft releases Flight Simulator for Windows 95
  • 1996

    The company acquires Vermeer Technologies and its software application, FrontPage.
  • 1997

    The Justice Department alleges that Microsoft violated a 1994 consent decree concerning licensing the Windows operating system to computer manufacturers.
  • 1998

    The U.S. Department of Justice files two antitrust cases against Microsoft, alleging the company had violated the Sherman Act.
  • 2000

    Steve billmer becomes the second chief ejecutive officer ofmicrosoft bill gates takes a new role as chief software architect
  • 2000

    The company acquires Visio Corporation, its largest acquisition to date.
  • 2001

    Microsoft introduced their first gaming unit, the Xbox system
  • 2001

    Microsoft Windows XP is released internationally.
  • 2003

    Microsoft launches Windows Server.
  • 2007

    After Windows Vista failed to take hold and since the release of the Apple iPhone in 2007, Microsoft's image as an influential consumer company has faded.
  • 2008

    Gates stepped down from day-to-day responsibilities, leaving Ballmer and his other deputies in charge.
  • 2009

    Windows 7, released in 2009, was the fastest-selling operating system on record, and Microsoft is hard at work on a major refresh with Windows 8.
  • 2011

    Microsoft had about 90,800 employees, including about 40,750 in the Puget Sound area.
  • 2014

    Securityof microsoft wasn´t good.