Today is a very important day in history as we celebrate the 36th birthday of Microsoft. As we celebrate this moment, lets take a look back at the company and its accomplishments.
Gates and Allen formed a partnership and called their new start-up Microsoft in April 4, 1975. Steve Ballmer eventually joined Microsoft several years later in 1980. Microsoft set it’s goals to place a computer on every desktop at home. Microsoft eventually accomplished this goal and changed the ways we work forever.
In 1990, Microsoft’s flagship operating system was Windows 3.0. Windows 3.0 was the first wildly successful version of Windows. In 1992, Microsoft released Windows 3.1. Both of these versions of Windows sold 10 million copies in just a two year time span. To top that off, when Windows 95 was launched in 1995, excited customers stood in long lines to buy their copy and see the infamous “start button” and get a chance to play with the built-in MSN online service. On October 25, 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, which featured a new task-based graphical user interface. Microsoft also released the Xbox later that year. Today, the Xbox is one of the hottest gaming systems available on the market. In 2007, we saw Windows Vista which brought us a visual style dubbed “Aero”. In 2008, Bill Gates retired from Microsoft and passed the torch to Steve Ballmer. In 2009, we saw Microsoft’s next greatest operating system, Windows 7.
Channel 9 has a nice video, a little old but still worth a look, about Bill Gates and Microsoft in the early days:
Here is a YouTube video about Bill Gates last day at Microsoft:
Paul Allen’s relationship with Bill Gates over the years was mostly cordial but in his upcoming book, Idea Man, Allen paints a different picture than many would have expected.
Regardless, let’s take this time to celebrate Microsoft as they celebrate their 36th birthday. Here’s to the past 36 years that shaped the way we use technology today and to the many innovative ideas to come.
Further reading: Bill Gates, Microsoft
