Everything about Microsoft totally explained
Microsoft Corporation is an
American multinational computer technology
corporation. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of
software products for computing devices.
Founded to develop and sell
BASIC interpreters for the
Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the
home computer operating system market with
MS-DOS in the mid-1980s. The company released an
initial public offering (IPO) in the
stock market, which, due to the ensuing rise of the stock price, has made four
billionaires and an estimated 12,000
millionaires from Microsoft employees. Throughout its history the company has been the target of criticism for various reasons, including
monopoly status and anti-competitive business practices including
refusal to deal and
tying. The
U.S. Justice Department and the
European Commission, among others, have ruled against Microsoft for various
antitrust violations.
Microsoft has footholds in other markets besides operating systems and office suites, with assets such as the
MSNBC cable television network, the
MSN Internet portal, and the
Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both
computer hardware products such as the
Microsoft mouse and
home entertainment products such as the
Xbox,
Xbox 360,
Zune and
MSN TV.
History
1975–1985: Founding
Following the launch of the
Altair 8800,
Bill Gates called the creators of the new
microcomputer,
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), offering to demonstrate an implementation of the
BASIC programming language for the system. After the demonstration, MITS agreed to distribute
Altair BASIC.
Gates left
Harvard University, moved to
Albuquerque, New Mexico where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft there. The company's first international office was founded on
November 1,
1978, in Japan, entitled "
ASCII Microsoft" (now called "
Microsoft Japan"). The company expanded into new markets with the release of the
Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named
Microsoft Press. On
November 20,
1985, Microsoft released its first retail version of
Microsoft Windows, originally a graphical extension for its MS-DOS operating system.
In 1989, Microsoft introduced its flagship
office suite,
Microsoft Office. This was a bundle of separate office productivity applications, such as
Microsoft Word and
Microsoft Excel. The new version of Microsoft's operating system boasted such new features as streamlined
user interface graphics and improved
protected mode capability for the
Intel 386 processor; it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks. Windows at the time generated more revenue for Microsoft than OS/2, and the company decided to move more resources from OS/2 to Windows. In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and Windows quickly became the favored PC platform.
During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft's product
Microsoft Office allowed the company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such as
WordPerfect and
Lotus 1-2-3. According to
The Register, Novell, an owner of WordPerfect for a time, alleged that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and of undocumented
Application Programming Interface features to make Office perform better than its competitors. Eventually, Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with a
market share far exceeding that of its competitors.
In 1993, Microsoft released
Windows NT 3.1, a business operating system with the Windows 3.1 user interface but an entirely different kernel.
1995–2005: Internet and legal issues
In the mid-90s, Microsoft began to expand its product line into
computer networking and the
World Wide Web. On
August 24 1995, it launched a major
online service,
MSN (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to
AOL. MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services. The company continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture with
NBC to create a new 24/7 cable news station,
MSNBC. Microsoft entered the personal digital assistant (PDA) market in November with
Windows CE 1.0, a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, specifically designed to run on low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other small computers. Later in 1997,
Internet Explorer 4.0 was released for both
Mac OS and Windows, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival
Netscape. In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal
District Court in which they stated that Microsoft had violated an agreement signed in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. Later, with the release of the
Xbox Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar
game console market dominated by
Sony and
Nintendo.
2006–present: Vista and other transitions
In 2006, Bill Gates announced a two year transition period from his role as Chief
Software Architect, which would be taken by
Ray Ozzie, and planned to remain the company's chairman, head of the Board of Directors and act as an adviser on key projects. As of December 2007,
Windows Vista, released in January 2007, is Microsoft's latest operating system.
Microsoft Office 2007 was released at the same time; its "
Ribbon" user interface is a significant departure from its predecessors.
On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase internet services competitor
Yahoo! for up to $44.6 billion, though this offer was rejected on February 10. On
May 3,
2008, Microsoft withdrew their offer.
Microsoft announced on February 21, 2008 that it'll share more information about its products and technology in order to make it easier for developers to create software that works with its products.
Product divisions
To be more precise in tracking performance of each unit and delegating responsibility, Microsoft reorganized into seven core business groups—each an independent financial entity—in April 2002. Later, on
September 20 2005, Microsoft announced a rationalization of its original seven business groups into the three core divisions that exist today: the Windows Client, MSN and Server and Tool groups were merged into the
Microsoft Platform Products and Services Division; the Information Worker and Microsoft Business Solutions groups were merged into the
Microsoft Business Division; and the
Mobile and Embedded Devices and Home and Entertainment groups were merged into the
Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division.
Platform Products and Services Division
This division produces Microsoft's
flagship product, the Windows operating system. It has been produced in many versions, including
Windows 3.1,
Windows 95,
Windows 98,
Windows 2000,
Windows Me,
Windows Server 2003,
Windows XP and
Windows Vista. Almost all
IBM compatible personal computers come with Windows preinstalled. The current desktop version of Windows is Windows Vista. The
online service MSN, the cable television station
MSNBC and the Microsoft online magazine
Slate are all part of this division. (
Slate was acquired by
The Washington Post on
December 21,
2004.) At the end of 1997, Microsoft acquired
Hotmail, the most popular
webmail service, which it rebranded as "MSN Hotmail". In 1999, Microsoft introduced
MSN Messenger, an
instant messaging client, to compete with the popular
AOL Instant Messenger. Along with Windows Vista, MSN Messenger became
Windows Live Messenger. with the release of the
Xbox. The company develops and publishes its own video games for this console, with the help of its
Microsoft Game Studios subsidiary, in addition to
third-party Xbox
video game publishers such as
Electronic Arts and
Activision, who pay a license fee to publish games for the system. The Xbox also has a successor in the
Xbox 360, released on
2005-11-22 in
North America and other countries. With the
Xbox 360, Microsoft hopes to compensate for the losses incurred with the original
Xbox. However, Microsoft made some decisions considered controversial in the video
gaming community, such as releasing the console with high
failure rates, selling two different versions of the system, one without the
HDD and providing limited
backward compatibility with only particular Xbox titles. . In addition to the Xbox line of products, Microsoft also markets a number of other computing-related hardware products as well, including
mice,
keyboards,
joysticks, and
gamepads, along with other
game controllers, the production of which is outsourced in most cases.
As of 15 November 2007, Microsoft announced the purchase of Musiwave,
Openwave's mobile phone music sales business.
Business culture
Microsoft has often been described as having a developer-centric business culture. A great deal of time and money is spent each year on recruiting young university-trained
software developers and on keeping them in the company. For example, while many software companies often place an entry-level software developer in a cubicle desk within a large office space filled with other cubicles, Microsoft assigns a private or semiprivate closed office to every developer or pair of developers. In addition, key
decision makers at every level are either developers or former developers. In a sense, the software developers at Microsoft are considered the "stars" of the company in the same way that the sales staff at IBM are considered the "stars" of their company. This is usually shortened to just "dogfood" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. The company is also known for their hiring process, dubbed the "
Microsoft interview", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a
manhole cover round?" and is a process often mimicked in other organizations, although these types of questions are rarer now than they were in the past. For fun, Microsoft also hosts the
Microsoft Puzzle Hunt, an annual
puzzle hunt (a live puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles) held at the Redmond campus.
As of 2006, Microsoft employees, not including Bill Gates, have given over $2.5 billion dollars to
non-profit organizations worldwide, making Microsoft the worldwide top company in per-employee donations. In January 2007, the Harris Interactive/The Wall Street Journal Reputation Quotient survey concluded that Microsoft had the world's best corporate reputation, citing strong financial performance, vision & leadership, workplace environment rankings, and the charitable deeds of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
User culture
Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as
Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network, often called
MSDN. MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software. In recent years, Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, entitled
Channel9, which provides many modern features such as a
wiki and an
Internet forum. Another community site that provides daily
videocasts and other services,
On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006.
Most free technical support available through Microsoft is provided through online
Usenet newsgroups (in the early days it was also provided on
CompuServe). There are several of these newsgroups for nearly every product Microsoft provides, and often they're monitored by Microsoft employees. People who are helpful on the newsgroups can be elected by other peers or Microsoft employees for
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status, which entitles people to a sort of special social status, in addition to possibilities for awards and other benefits. The ten board members are elected every year at the annual
shareholders' meeting, and those who don't get a majority of votes must submit a
resignation to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation. There are five committees within the board which oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles
financial matters such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating
antitrust laws.
There are several other aspects to the corporate structure of Microsoft. For worldwide matters there's the Executive Team, made up of sixteen company officers across the globe, which is charged with various duties including making sure employees understand Microsoft's culture of business. The sixteen officers of the Executive Team include the Chairman and
Chief Software Architect, the CEO, the
General Counsel and Secretary, the
CFO, senior and group vice presidents from the business units, the CEO of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions; and the heads of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services;
Human Resources; and Corporate Marketing. In addition to the Executive Team there's also the Corporate Staff Council, which handles all major staff functions of the company, including approving corporate policies. The Corporate Staff Council is made up of employees from the Law and Corporate Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Marketing, and Advanced Strategy and Policy groups at Microsoft. Other
Executive Officers include the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the various product divisions, leaders of the marketing section, and the
CTO, among others. By the close of the first
trading day, the stock had closed at $28, equivalent to 9.7 cents when adjusted for the company's first nine
splits. The dividend for the 2003
fiscal year was eight cents per
share, followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year.
Diversity
In 2005, Microsoft received a 100% rating in the Corporate Equality Index from the
Human Rights Campaign, a ranking of companies by how progressive the organization deems their policies concerning
LGBT (
lesbian,
gay,
bisexual and
transsexual) employees. Partly through the work of the
Gay and Lesbian Employees at Microsoft (GLEAM) group, Microsoft added
gender expression to its anti-discrimination policies in April 2005, and the Human Rights Campaign upgraded Microsoft's Corporate Equality Index from its 86% rating in 2004 to its current 100% rating.
In April 2005, Microsoft received wide criticism for withdrawing support from Washington state's H.B. 1515 bill that would have extended the state's current anti-discrimination laws to people with alternate
sexual orientations. Microsoft was accused of bowing to pressure from local evangelical pastor
Ken Hutcherson who met with a senior Microsoft executive and threatened a national boycott of Microsoft's products. Microsoft also revealed they were paying evangelical conservative
Ralph Reed's company Century Strategies a $20,000 monthly fee. Over 2,000 employees signed a petition asking Microsoft to reinstate support for the bill. Under harsh criticism from both outside and inside the company's walls, Microsoft decided to support the bill again in May 2005.
Logos and slogans
In 1987, Microsoft adopted its current logo, the so-called "
Pacman Logo" designed by
Scott Baker. According to the March 1987
Computer Reseller News Magazine, "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the
o and
s to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed." Dave Norris, a Microsoft employee, ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter
O, nicknamed the
blibbet, but it was discarded.
Microsoft's logo with the "
Your potential. Our passion." tagline below the main corporate name, is based on the slogan Microsoft had as of 2008. In 2002, the company started using the logo in the United States and eventually started a TV campaign with the slogan, changed from the previous tagline of
"Where do you want to go today?."
Image:Mslogohistorical.png|Microsoft "blibbet" logo, used until 1987.
Image:Microsoft - Where do you want to go today.svg|Microsoft "Pac-Man" logo, designed by Scott Baker and used since 1987, with the 1994–2002 slogan "Where do you want to go today?"
Image:Microsoft logo slogan.png|Microsoft logo as of 2008, with the current slogan "Your potential. Our passion." Microsoft is certainly no exception with its large data centers and many campuses, but the company has also taken actions to become more environmentally friendly. Some examples include:
Microsoft's newest building on its campus in Hyderabad, India was built as an environmentally friendly structure.
Microsoft has phased out the use of polyvinyl chloride plastic in its packaging material, due to environmental concerns. Polyvinyl chloride, also referred to as PVC or vinyl, can release toxins into the environment during production and if it's burned after production. These toxins are synthetic chemicals that can be linked to cancer, and issues with the reproductive and immune systems. In six months time, Microsoft was able to eliminate approximately 361,000 pounds of polyvinyl packaging by transitioning to a packaging utilizing polyethylene terephthalate plastic (PET). The company continues to research further eco-friendly packaging made of corn starch, sugar, and vegetable oil.
Microsoft is using some renewable energy sources in its silicon valley campus, where the company has installed over 2,000 solar panels spanning 30,000 square feet on top of its buildings. These panels supply 480 kilowatts of power, generating approximately 15 percent of the total energy needed by the campus and cutting the greenhouse gasses that would otherwise be produced to supply that power.
Microsoft employs a free mass transit system for its 35,000 employees in the Seattle area and shuttles its workers with hybrid cars on its main campus.
The company uses an irrigation system at its Redmond campus that senses upcoming weather changes, saving 11 million gallons of water per year. The company has received a silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program for environmental design.
Criticism
Corporate
Since the 1980s, Microsoft has been the focus of much controversy in the computer industry. The majority of criticism has been for its business tactics, often described with the motto "embrace, extend and extinguish". Microsoft initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it to produce their own incompatible version of the software or standard, which in time extinguishes competition that doesn't or can't use Microsoft's new version. These and other tactics have resulted in lawsuits brought by companies and governments, and billions of dollars in rulings against Microsoft. As a Seattle career consultant described it, "they... stretch people to unbelievable limits. It's always push, push, push, and the stakes are constantly being raised." The term later came to be used by some of Microsoft's own employees.
Free software proponents point to the company's joining of the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA) as a cause of concern. A group of companies that seek to implement an initiative called Trusted Computing (which is claimed to set out to increase security and privacy in a user's computer), the TCPA is decried by critics as a means to allow software developers to enforce any sort of restriction they wish over their software.
Advocates of free software also take issue with Microsoft's promotion of Digital Rights Management (DRM) and total cost of ownership (TCO) comparisons with its "Get the facts" campaign. Digital Rights Management is a technology that allows content providers to impose restrictions on the methods by which their products are used on consumer hardware; and subsequently, detractors contend that such technology may infringe on fair use and other rights, especially given that it restricts legal activities such as re-mixing or reproduction of material for use in slide shows. The "Get the facts" campaign argues that Windows Server has a lower TCO than Linux and lists a variety of studies in order to prove its case. Proponents of Linux unveiled their own study arguing that, contrary to one of Microsoft's claims, Linux has lower management costs than Windows Server. Another study by the Yankee Group claims that upgrading from one version of Windows Server to another costs less than switching from Windows Server to Linux.
Products
For criticism of Windows Vista, see Criticism of Windows Vista
For criticism of Windows XP, see Criticism of Windows XP
For criticism of Windows 2000, see the criticism section of that article
For criticism of Windows Me, see the criticism section of that article
For criticism of Windows 9x, see the criticism section of that article
For criticism of Microsoft Office, see the criticism section of that articleFurther Information
Get more info on 'Microsoft'.
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