Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company with headquarters in Redmond, Washington. It develops, manufactures, licenses supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. Its best-known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office Suite, the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers.
Microsoft ranked number 21 in the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue; it was the world’s largest software maker by revenue as of 2016. It is considered one of the Big Five companies in the U.S. information technology industry, along with Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.
In January 1975, Allen read an article in Popular Electronics magazine about the Altair 8800 microcomputer and showed it to Bill Gates. Gates called MITS, makers of the Altair, and offered his and Allen’s services to write a version of the new BASIC programming language for the Altair. After eight weeks, Allen and Gates demonstrated their program to MITS, which agreed to distribute and market the product under the name Altair BASIC. The deal inspired Gates and Allen to form their own software company.
Thus, Microsoft was started on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico—the home of MITS—with Gates as the first CEO. On July 29, 1975, Gates used the name “Micro-Soft”—which had been suggested by Allen—in a letter to Allen referring to their partnership. The name, a portmanteau of “microcomputer” and “software,” was registered with the New Mexico secretary of state on Nov. 26, 1976.
In August 1977, less than a year later, the company opened its first international office. The branch, located in Japan, was called ASCII Microsoft. In 1979, the company moved to Bellevue, Washington, and two years later it incorporated under the name Microsoft Inc. Gates was president of the company and chairman of the board, and Allen was executive vice president.
Microsoft operates three business segments: More Personal Computing, Productivity and Business Processes, and Intelligent Cloud. The More Personal Computing segment generates about 35 per cent of revenue by selling products and services for end-users, developers, and IT managers across devices. Included are Windows operating system products; devices, including the Surface tablet, phones, and PC accessories; gaming such as Xbox hardware and Xbox Live; video games; HoloLens virtual reality technology; and third-party video game royalties; and search advertising.
The Productivity and Business Processes segment, about one-third of sales, covers productivity, communication, and information products and services across devices and platforms. Among the products are Office, Office 365 (the cloud version), Exchange, SharePoint, Skype and Skype for Business, and the Dynamics ERP and CRM products.
Office products and cloud services by themselves account for about a quarter of total revenue. LinkedIn is part of the segment. The Intelligent Cloud segment, about 30 per cent of revenue, consists of its public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services headlined by the Azure cloud computing service. Other products and services include SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, and System Center.
Microsoft is used to help 25 million people worldwide acquire new digital skills needed for the COVID-19 economy. This initiative, detailed on the Official Microsoft Blog, includes immediate steps to help those looking to reskill and pursue an in-demand job and brings together every part of the company, combining existing and new resources from LinkedIn, GitHub and Microsoft. This includes the use of data to identify in-demand jobs and the skills needed to fill them, free access to learning paths and content to help people develop the skills these positions require, low-cost certifications and free job-seeking tools to help people who develop these skills pursue new jobs.
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