Microsoft is one of the most important companies in modern history but few know its story.

 In this article, we are going to be looking at the story of this software powerhouse, and how it changed the way we use our computers today.

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational technology company based in Redmond, Washington, in the United States.

It manufactures consumer items, computer software, personal computers, and related services.

The Windows range of operating systems, the Microsoft Office package, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers are some of its most well-known software offerings.

Xbox video gaming consoles and the Microsoft Surface range of touchscreen personal PCs are the company’s two main hardware offerings.

As of 2019, Microsoft is the world’s largest software manufacturer in terms of sales. On the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the biggest American corporations, it was ranked No. 21.

Along with Google, Amazon, Apple, and Meta, it is one of the Big Five American tech firms.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen were childhood friends who wanted to start a business leveraging their expertise in computer programming.

They established Traf-O-Data in 1972, a company that sold a crude computer for monitoring and analyzing data on vehicle traffic.

While Allen attended Washington State University to earn a degree in computer science before leaving to work at Honeywell, Gates enrolled at Harvard University.

 Allen proposed that they could create a BASIC interpreter for the device after reading about the Altair 8800 microprocessor from Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics.

MITS called Gates and asked for a demonstration after Gates claimed to have a functional interpreter.

 Gates created the interpreter while Allen worked on an Altair simulator, and they showed MITS in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in March 1975 how well it worked. MITS agreed to commercialize it as Altair BASIC and distribute it.

On April 4, 1975, Gates and Allen founded Microsoft. Gates served as CEO, and Allen offered the name “Micro-Soft,” which is short for microcomputer software.

As a result of an arrangement the company made with ASCII Magazine in Japan in August 1977, ASCII Microsoft opened its first overseas office. In January 1979, Microsoft relocated its corporate headquarters to Bellevue, Washington.

Despite having started working together on OS/2 with IBM in August of the previous year, Microsoft introduced Windows on November 20, 1985, as a graphical addition to MS-DOS.

 Microsoft relocated its corporate headquarters from Bellevue to Redmond, Washington on February 26, 1986

On March 13, the company went public, and as a result of the stock price increase, its employees became estimated to be four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires. On April 2, 1987, Microsoft made its OS/2 version available to original equipment producers (OEMs).

 A more than ten-year legal battle with the government began when the Federal Trade Commission investigated Microsoft in 1990 for potential collusion as a result of the company’s cooperation with IBM.

The business was working on Microsoft Windows NT at the same time, which was heavily dependent on their copy of the OS/2 code.

The 32-bit Win32 application programming interface (API) and new modular kernel made it easier to port from 16-bit (MS-DOS-based) Windows when it was released on July 21, 1993.

The OS/2 cooperation declined once IBM was notified by Microsoft about Windows NT.

Microsoft announced on March 26, 2020, that it would buy Affirmed Networks for around $1.35 billion. Microsoft closed all of its retail locations indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak due to safety concerns.

 The company revealed plans to shut down its Mixer service on July 22, 2020, and to transfer existing partners to Facebook Gaming.

On January 18, 2022, Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, an American video game developer and holding company, in an all-cash deal for $68.7 billion.

 The franchises that Activision Blizzard is most known for creating are Warcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, StarCraft, Candy Crush Saga, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Skylanders, and Overwatch, among others.

Many saw Microsoft’s acquisition of video game studios as an effort to compete against Meta Platforms The Street referred to Microsoft as wanting to become “the Disney of the metaverse.”

Both Activision and Microsoft issued statements claiming that the acquisition would benefit their businesses in the metaverse.

Microsoft has not commented on the ongoing legal disputes surrounding Activision’s treatment of employees, but rumors claim that Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision and a key target of the disputes, will depart the business after the acquisition is completed.

The transaction is anticipated to complete in 2023, after which the US Federal Trade Commission will conduct a review.

From a stellar start, Microsoft is still one of the most relevant companies in the World.

With new acquisitions and ideas, all we can do is sit and wait what other wonders this company can create.