Microsoft is one of the largest personal computer, software, and electronics companies in the world. The company was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in albuquerque, New Mexico (USA).
In that decade, Gates and Allen had to create a version of the BASIC interpreter, a computer programming language, for The Altair 8800 of MITS, a personal computer of the time.
The microsoft name comes from an abbreviation of software for microcomputers, since it was the very reason the company was created.
Starting in 1980, Microsoft worked with IBM and Apple on a variety of technologies, until launching the COBOL programming language and the MS-DOS system, the operating system for the IBM PC line, and the Microsoft Word word processor.
In 1985, Microsoft introduced Windows 1.0, which cost $99 and functioned as a graphical interface for MS-DOS. The following year, the company moved its headquarters to Redmond, Washington, a city in which it remains to this day.
After the first release, Windows was upgraded up to ten years later to stop relying on MS-DOS with Windows 95, which opened the Start button, MSN, and the iconic Internet Explorer browser, which was a bridge to the web.
In 2000, Gates passed the company’s presidency to Steve Ballmer, who commanded releases such as Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8, as well as Azure, Xbox One, Kinect, Outlook and Surface computers, as well as the late Windows Phone.
Ballmer left Microsoft in 2014 and was succeeded by Satya Nadella, who released Windows 10, whose upgrade was free for a while, in addition to Microsoft Edge and HoloLens.
Consolidated by its software software and services, the company also offers Microsoft 365, service for home users and companies that covers the Office suite such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
