Microsoft Marks Its 47th Anniversary

On this day in 1975, the Microsoft Corporation was created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. This tech giant company has since become one of the most important IT corporations globally. Microsoft took to social media today to announce the landmark of its 47th anniversary. With over 180,000 employees across the globe, chances are there may be not much cake to go around. But regardless the Microsoft Corporation continues to spread its wings and bless the world with its technological advances. Currently headquartered in Redmond (Washington State, USA), the company remains one of the largest software companies in the world by revenue and one of the largest companies by equity capitalization (currently approximately $ 2288 billion). Some of the wonderful products and services the multinational is offering include, Microsoft Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office, the Xbox gaming console and many more.

In 1975, Gates and Allen first developed a programming language called BASIC, the purpose behind the creation was to perfectly communicate with one of the first microcomputers, the Altair 8800. This first microcomputer was produced by MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems). After recording this first success, Gates and Allen proceeded to leave their respective day jobs and bet everything on their Micro-Soft project. In the early days of the company, the two friends – Gates and Allen focused on the BASIC language they had then created and were quickly able to adaptable it to other distributors which included NCR, Radio Shack, and Citibank. The BASIC language was known to have greatly enhanced the functions of computers back then. Many years pass, and the Microsoft Corporation continued to record remarkable successes and started positioning itself to become a leader in the technology sector. As plans of expansion continued to surface the company proceeded with opening its first international office in Japan in 1980; and then its first European office in Belgium in 1982.

In 1983, Gates and Allen recorded more successes especially after developing the Microsoft Windows operating system. At that time, users no longer needed to communicate with the PC by just typing on the keyboard. It became possible to even go as far as click on the elements presents on the screen as well as manage multiple programs that are independent of each other. In the same year, the use of the mouse was introduced, ever since the revolution in technology continue to pick up rapidly.

Microsoft continued to focus on the expansion of its territories in the 1980s, new branches saw the light of day in England, France and Germany. The Microsoft Cooperation later announced to the public its plan of installing its first production plant in Ireland with the ambition to cater for the European market. In the 1990s the expansion plan continued in a rapid style. 15 years after its birth, the Microsoft Corporation became the first computer software company to exceed a billion dollars in sales yearly. According to reports, back then the Windows operating system was estimated to be used by at least 9 out of 10 users.

With many years gone by, Microsoft still remains faithful to the goal of making Microsoft products accessible and suitable for each user through increasingly varied and diversified offers; in 2011, Microsoft bought Skype; the company also embraced the video game sector with the Xbox console. In 2018, the company made a mark with Windows 10, the following year Office 2019 surfaced.

The story of Microsoft is the case of two schoolmates who together put their passion for computer science into creating something the world continues to define as revolutionary. These 2 carried out their Micro-Soft project with perseverance and dedication, after taking a chance on risking it all, they have changed the course of history. With plans of the company to continue to hit giant strides, it’s not backing out on its fundamental objective of making its products accessible to the entire population of the world.