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Facts about Microsoft

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On August 12, 1981, after negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft to provide a version of the CP/M operating system for use in its new IBM Personal Computer (PC).

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Microsoft sells computer games that run on Windows PCs, including titles such as Age of Empires, Halo and the Microsoft Flight Simulator series.

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Windows generated more revenue for Microsoft than OS/2, and the company decided to move more resources from OS/2 to Windows.

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The company's first international office was founded on November 1, 1978, in Japan, entitled "ASCII Microsoft" (now called "Microsoft Japan").

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In 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, encompassing the features of both its business and home product lines.

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In 1987, Microsoft adopted its current logo, the so-called "Pac-Man Logo," designed by Scott Baker.

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The soil must be rebuilt and tilled with fresh leaves, such as oak (World Ginseng Expo 2006).

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Microsoft offers a suite of server software, entitled Windows Server System.

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The "fiorino d'oro" of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the seventh century.

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Microsoft (along with Google, Yahoo, Cisco, AOL, Skype, and other companies) have cooperated with the Chinese government in implementing a system of Internet censorship.

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Microsoft used to sell a set-top Digital Video Recorder (DVR) called the UltimateTV, which allowed users to record up to 35 hours of television programming from a direct-to-home satellite television provider DirecTV.

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Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by William Henry Gates III, (better known as Bill Gates, b.

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Microsoft Office 2007, released at the same time, features a "Ribbon" user interface which is a significant departure from its predecessors.

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The stock, which sold initially at $21 a share, eventually closed at $27.75, making Microsoft's total value $519,777,778.

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Microsoft's two founders, Bill Gates, who owned 45 percent of the company's 24.7 million outstanding shares, and Paul Allen, who owned roughly 25 percent of the shares, were made instant millionaires by the offering.

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Gates' stake in Microsoft was worth $233.9 million.

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Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone OS called 86-DOS (originally known as QDOS for "Quick and Dirty Operating System") from Seattle Computer Products, which IBM renamed to PC-DOS.

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Following the release of Windows Phone, Microsoft underwent a gradual rebranding of its product range throughout 2011 and 2012—the corporation's logos, products, services, and websites adopted the principles and concepts of the Metro design language.

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At the end of 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail, the most popular webmail service, which it rebranded as "MSN Hotmail."

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On November 20, 1985, Microsoft released its first retail version of Microsoft Windows, originally a graphical layer on top of its MS-DOS operating system.

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Large computer vendors bundle Microsoft Windows with the majority of the personal computers they sell.

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On October 1, Microsoft announced its intention to launch a news operation, part of a new-look MSN, at the time of the Windows 8 launch that was later in the month.

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The Platform Products and Services Division produces Microsoft's flagship product, the Windows operating system.

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The solutions and plug-ins built by third-party programmers in turn led to more Microsoft sales.

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Microsoft Press, a book publishing division, debuted on July 11 the same year with two titles: Exploring the IBM PCjr Home Computer, by Peter Norton; and "The Apple Macintosh Book, by Cary Lu.

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In 1999, Microsoft introduced MSN Messenger, an instant messaging client, to compete with the popular AOL Instant Messenger.

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The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, and MSN TV.

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The previous version, Visual Studio 2005 was a major improvement over its predecessor, Visual Studio.Net 2003, named after the .NET initiative, a Microsoft marketing initiative covering a number of technologies.

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In 1989, Microsoft introduced its flagship office software suite, Microsoft Office, a bundle of separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

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Microsoft is accused of locking vendors and consumers into its products, and of not following and complying with existing standards in its software.

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Microsoft's Initial Public Offering took place on March 14, 1986.

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Microsoft is a founding member of the Open Networking Foundation started on March 23, 2011.

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Microsoft Zone hosts free premium and retail games where players can compete against each other and in tournaments.

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MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release or beta versions of Microsoft software.

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Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network and the MSN Internet portal.

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In 1993, Microsoft released Windows NT 3.1, a business operating system with the Windows 3.1 user interface but an entirely different kernel.

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Microsoft holds a large market share of home and business operating systems, and plays an important role in the economics of software.

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On October 26, 2012, Microsoft launched Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface.

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To increase precision in tracking the performance of each unit and delegating responsibility, Microsoft reorganized into seven core business groups—each an independent financial entity—in April 2002.

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Axapta and Solomon, catering to similar markets, were combined with the Navision and Great Plains lines into a common platform called Microsoft Dynamics.

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On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of United States v. Microsoft, calling the company an "abusive monopoly" and forcing the company to split into two separate units.

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Microsoft Visual Studio is the company's set of programming tools and compilers.

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Critics allege that while giving the appearance of neutral third parties these organizations work to undermine Microsoft's competitors, for example stating "open-source software may offer target for terrorists".

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tagline below the main corporate name, is based on the slogan Microsoft had as of 2008.

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Greenpeace's 2008 Greener Electronics guide ranked Microsoft the second worst company for the environment among makers of game consoles, behind only Nintendo.

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Most free technical support available through Microsoft is provided through online Usenet newsgroups (in the early days it was also provided on CompuServe).

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In August 1985, Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a different operating system called OS/2.

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The Microsoft Business Division produces Microsoft Office, the company's line of office software.

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Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) and Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

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Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEX: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices.

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Gates left Harvard University, moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft there.

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The U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission, have both ruled against Microsoft for various antitrust violations.

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In 1987, Microsoft released its first version of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

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Microsoft has footholds in other markets besides operating systems and office suites, with assets such as the MSNBC cable channel, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

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On August 24, 1995, it launched a major online service, MSN (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to AOL.

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In 1998 Bill Gates appointed Steve Ballmer president of Microsoft but remained as Chair and CEO.

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On June 18, 2012, Microsoft unveiled the Surface, the first computer in the company's history to have its hardware made by Microsoft.

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Before XP was released, Microsoft had to maintain both the NT and the 9x codebase.

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Microsoft previewed Windows 8, an operating system designed to power both personal computers and tablet computers, in Taipei in June 2011.

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On February 4, 2014, Steve Ballmer stepped down as CEO of Microsoft and was succeeded by Satya Nadella, who previously led Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise division.

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Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for handheld devices, which today has developed into Windows Mobile 6.

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Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo in late 2001 with the release of the Xbox.

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Microsoft has received considerable criticism for various aspects of its products and business practices.

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More recently, Trojan horses and other spyware and malware exploits have plagued numerous users due to flaws in the security of Microsoft Windows and other programs.

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The Kinect, the motion sensing input devices by Microsoft, which was first introduced in November 2010 was upgraded for the 2013 release of the eighth-generation Xbox One.

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Microsoft contributes money to several think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.

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During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft Office allowed the company to outpace its competitors in applications software, such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3.

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Microsoft has acquired several companies and products during its history, including some that competed with earlier Microsoft products.

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The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) was launched in October 2013 and Microsoft is part of the coalition of public and private organizations that also includes Facebook, Intel and Google.

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MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services.

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Microsoft has taken actions to become more environmentally friendly.

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On September 3, 2013, Microsoft agreed to buy Nokia's mobile unit for $7 billion.

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Microsoft rebrands the primary products of the companies it acquires, and in many cases offers them for free or bundles them with its operating system.

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Microsoft continued to expand its product line in other markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse on May 2, 1983.

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On July 31, 2012, Microsoft launched the Outlook.com webmail service to compete with Gmail.

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Microsoft has attempted to expand the Windows brand into many other markets, with products such as Windows CE for PDAs and its "Windows-powered" Smartphone products.

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Technical references 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.