Microsoft

Microsoft is an American corporation founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA. Its current CEO is Satya Nadella; Steve Ballmer was CEO prior to Nadella. Microsoft focuses on developing and manufacturing software, hardware and other technology oriented products and services.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Software products
* 3 Criticisms
* 4 Windows
* 4.1 Windows 1.0
* 4.2 Windows 2.0
* 4.3 Windows 3.0
* 4.4 Windows 95
* 4.5 Windows 98
* 4.6 Windows NT
* 4.7 Windows 2000
* 4.8 Windows ME
* 4.9 Windows XP
* 4.10 Vista
* 4.11 Windows 7
* 4.12 Windows 8
* 4.13 Windows 10
* 5 Publishing
* 6 Services
* 7 Hardware products
* 7.1 Xbox
* 7.2 Xbox 360
* 7.3 Xbox One
* 8 Subsidiaries of Microsoft
* 8.1 Rare
* 9 Corporate Slogan
* 10 References
* 11 External links

## History[edit]

Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Gates and Allen, after Gates dropped out of Harvard because he had an intense fascination with computers. Microsoft is a portmanteau of "microcomputer" and "software."

## Software products[edit]

* Windows (operating system), including Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and older versions of the desktop OS, versions for servers, versions for media centers, teacher editions, and versions for mobile devices
* MS DOS Microsoft's first operating system
* SQL Server
* Microsoft Office: Word, Excel (spreadsheet editor), PowerPoint (slide-show creator), Publisher, Visio, Access (database creator), etc.
* Expression vector graphics editor
* Virtual PC emulator
* SharePoint
* Windows Defender anti-virus and anti-spyware software
* Windows Live Writer blog publishing software
* XNA game development tool
* Visual Studio integrated development environment for C++, Visual Basic, C#, etc.

and hundreds more.

## Criticisms[edit]

Microsoft was investigated for antitrust violations by the Department of Justice, and in 2001 the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the finding of the trial court that monopolization by Microsoft had violated the Sherman Act.[1] The appellate court, however, overturned the lower court ruling to break Microsoft up and instead remanded the case to a new trial judge with instructions suggesting a less drastic remedy. By then, President George W. Bush had replaced Bill Clinton and the Bush Administration dropped the demand of the Clinton Administration for a break-up of Microsoft.

Devoid of conservative leadership, has somewhat lost its competitive lead, and by 2014 it had been far surpassed by Apple, Google and smaller, innovative companies. In 2014, Microsoft announced layoffs of 14% of its workforce, totaling 18,000 jobs.[2] However, this was only temporary. By 2019, they were thriving again, along with their liberal and selfish ways.

They hire massive numbers of people at high salaries, from around the world, and this drives the cost of housing up greatly. A 1,000 square foot house nearby, built 60 years ago, now sells in two days for $750,000.[Citation Needed] Plus, by bringing in so many people from around the world, there is tremendous overcrowding. So developers manipulate retail properties, and build massive apartment buildings, attracting Microsoft employees who often care nothing about the Eastside culture and dignity, and this causes the overcrowding and terrible traffic. A ten-minute commute in 2015, can now be an hour.

Most people who have lived near Microsoft for years, are now reluctantly leaving their homes of many years because of the taxes, traffic, and the vast change in the caliber of people in the areas near Microsoft. Microsoft has begun a multi-billion dollar renovation of some buildings on the main campus. Nonetheless, some say that this overall liberal mentality has ruined the culture and lives of honest citizens within a ten-mile radius of Microsoft.

Microsoft was recently listed as one of numerous leftist-controlled companies that have gone "woke" and now support the criminal rioters of Antifa and Black Lives Matter in the wake of the 2020 leftist riots.[3]

Additionally, Microsoft has made in clear that they want to eliminate individual privacy online. For example, they announced in 2021 that their "Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity" (C2PA) was working on making every file traceable back to its original author. Under the guise of fighting "misinformation," this plan would apparently result in every image, video, audio clip, etc. bearing an embedded tag which identifies its original creator's true identity, if successfully implemented. With them in this effort are also a number of other tech companies, including Intel and Adobe.[4]

## Windows[edit]

* Main Article: Windows (operating system)

Windows is a series of operating systems produced and maintained by the Microsoft Corporation. It was estimated that as of December 2007 Microsoft Windows accounted for nearly 90% of operating system usage, with 3 out of 4 being Windows XP. Windows is used for desktop, and server computers, and more recently also for cellular phones and tablet computers. It is intended for use with the Intel x86-64 family of processors.

#### Windows 1.0[edit]

#### Windows 2.0[edit]

#### Windows 3.0[edit]

#### Windows 95[edit]

#### Windows 98[edit]

* Main Article: Windows 98

Windows 98 is an operating system released by Microsoft on May 15, 1998. It was the successor to Windows 95 and the second major operating system in the Windows 9x series. It was succeeded by Windows 98 Special Edition and Windows ME. Microsoft ended support of Windows 98 in 2006.

#### Windows NT[edit]

#### Windows 2000[edit]

Windows 2000 was released on February 17, 2000 in Professional, Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter Server editions.

#### Windows ME[edit]

#### Windows XP[edit]

* Main Article: Windows XP

Windows XP is the penultimate significant release of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and was made available on October 25, 2001. "XP" stands for eXPerience.

Windows XP has been criticized for poor performance, significant security vulnerabilities, and poor DOS backwards compatibility, among others. Interestingly, when Windows Vista debuted, many organizations chose to retain XP in favor of the newer system, as it was perceived of as being of higher quality, though this was because Windows Vista had poor hardware driver support for computer technology at the time of its release and suffered poor memory optimization, which was eventually fixed with the first service pack update. To this day, the majority of professional networks run Windows XP, and many still run Windows 2000 Professional, including high security institutions like banks, hospitals, and government agencies. Institutions' hesitance to upgrade to newer operating systems is nothing new; many organizations continued to use DOS long after Windows became popular.

#### Vista[edit]

* Main Article: Vista (operating system)

Windows Vista was Microsoft's successor to Windows XP, superseded in 2009 by Windows 7. It came in 6 different versions: Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Starter, Business and Enterprise edition. All versions except Starter were available for both 32-bit and 64-bit processor types. Business users were also entitled to downgrade to Windows XP for compatibility with old applications.

#### Windows 7[edit]

* Main Article: Windows 7

Windows 7 (previously known as "Vienna" and before that, "Blackcomb") is the name for the version of Microsoft's Windows operating system preceding Windows 8, originally announced in February 2000, but was subject to major delays such as Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista (which was also delayed by XP SP2). "Seven" was released on October 22, 2009. Work on Windows 7 began right after Windows Vista was released. Some early details of a few core operating system features surfaced at developer conferences such as WHEC in 2006.

#### Windows 8[edit]

* Main Article: Windows 8

Windows 8 is the name of the an operating system in the Microsoft Windows line, preceding Windows 10. It is a "landmark development", in operating systems, made by Microsoft, trending towards a more "mobile phone" interface. Windows 8 is the first Microsoft operating system, with support for ARM processors, also trending towards the mobile phone market.

#### Windows 10[edit]

* Main Article: Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest edition of Microsoft Windows. The tech giant released '10' to the public August 2015. It is the first release after the failed rollout of Windows 8. The first time Microsoft has released a limited-offer free upgrade.

## Publishing[edit]

* Microsoft Press releasing books dealing with various computer technologies.

## Services[edit]

* MSN Internet service provider
* Bing search engine
* Encarta encyclopedia
* Hotmail (aka Outlook) free internet e-mail service
* Windows Live web portal
* Xbox Live Xbox online multiplayer service
* MSNBC news service
* Windows Marketplace online shopping service
* Windows Live Spaces social-networking service
* Windows Live ID online ID and password storage service
* LIVE Anywhere cross-platform multiplayer gaming service
* Microsoft Ignition online digital music service

## Hardware products[edit]

* Xbox gaming console
* Xbox 360 gaming console
* Xbox One gaming console
* Surface touch-interface computer
* Natural keyboard
* LifeCam webcam
* SideWinder game-pad and joystick
* Ultra-Mobile PC tablet computer
* Fingerprint Reader reads fingerprint as password
* IntelliPoint Mouse optical mouse
* MSN TV, that allows web browsing

### Xbox[edit]

* Main Article: Xbox

The Xbox is a video game console designed and produced by Microsoft Corporation. It was Microsoft's first system to be launched into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo GameCube. The Xbox was first released on November 15, 2001 in North America; February 22, 2002 in Japan; and on March 14, 2002 in Europe and Australia.

### Xbox 360[edit]

* Main Article: Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is a games console produced by the Microsoft coporation. It was first released in 2005. It was a successor to the moderately successful Xbox console. According to Microsoft, as of September 2008 over 22 million units had been sold and over 1000 games released for the console. It was succeeded by the Xbox One in 2013.

### Xbox One[edit]

* Main Article: Xbox One

The Xbox One is the third video game system in the Xbox family created by Microsoft. It was released on November 22, 2013, one week after the release of the Sony PlayStation 4, one of the two competitors to the system, with the other being the Wii U.

## Subsidiaries of Microsoft[edit]

### Rare[edit]

* Main Article: Rare (company)

Rare Ltd. (formerly known as Rareware) is a British video game company that is currently a subsidiary of Microsoft. It is based in Twycross, Leicestershire. Founded in 1985 as Ultimate Play the Game, Rare has produced numerous critically and commercially successful titles such as the Banjo-Kazooie series, Battletoads, Star Fox Adventures, and the highly vulgar title Conker's Bad Fur Day. Microsoft bought the company from competitor Nintendo in 2002, for a sum of US$375 million (equivalent to about US$506.6 million in 2017).

## Corporate Slogan[edit]

Your potential. Our passion.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ United States v. Microsoft Corp., 346 U.S. App. D.C. 330 (D.C. Cir. 2001).
2. ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-2014-7?op=1
3. ↑ Here Are The Companies That Support Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and Want You Dead at Gab.com
4. ↑ Misinformationhttps://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/02/25/bokhari-microsoft-and-friends-want-to-destroy-online-privacy/

## External links[edit]

* Microsoft official site