What is Microsoft?

DEFINITION

Microsoft 

 By : Andy Patrizio   |    Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Microsoft is the biggest provider of computer software globally. Additionally, it is a top supplier of online services like search and cloud computing, video games, computer and gaming hardware, and other services. Microsoft has operations throughout more than 60 nations, with its main office in Redmond, Washington.

company history 

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, two Harvard University classmates, founded Microsoft to create a compiler for the Altair 8800, a relatively early computer. Gates offered to build a programme for the new computer and contacted the maker, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). For usage with the Altair, Gates and Allen developed an interpreter for BASIC, a mainframe programming language at the time.

MITS engaged In 1975, Gates and Allen. However, by 1976, they had left to focus more of their time on their own startup business, Microsoft, which they had incorporated in 1981.
In that year, IBM hired the business to create an operating system for its personal computer. IBM marketed PC-DOS under the name, and Microsoft offered MS-DOS (Microsoft Disc Operating System). IBM and Microsoft both experienced tremendous success in the early 1980s.
Interface Manager, a graphical user interface created by Microsoft that operated on top of DOS, was renamed Windows upon debut in 1985. The same Xerox PARC research project that Apple utilised to move an arrow across a graphical desktop served as the inspiration for this.

OS Windows

For the first few years, Windows was difficult for Microsoft.The launch of Microsoft in 1983

Windows 1.0, the company's initial Windows operating system, wasn't made public until November 1985. Windows 1.0 was more user-friendly than DOS' command-line interface, with menus that the user could access with a keyboard or mouse. It was heavily influenced by Apple's already-existing graphical user interface.
But it wasn't until 1990, with the release of Windows 3.0, that it started to earn the respect of the user base. Finally, when Windows 3.1 was released in 1992, it was well-liked. And the transition from DOS-based software to Windows-based apps started in 1995 with the release of Windows 95.

But the PC had to load DOS first in order to run Windows. Windows was a 32-bit operating system, whereas DOS was a 16-bit one. The outcome was a unstable Windows. Microsoft recruited seasoned developer David Cutler from Digital Equipment Corp. in 1992 with the goal of creating a brand-new 32-bit operating system from scratch. Windows NT was the name of the operating system, with NT standing for "new technology."

Although few PCs could run the early versions of NT due to their high system requirements. Windows NT was converted by Microsoft to a server operating system as a result. However, as hardware developed, an increasing number of people started utilising Windows NT as a desktop operating system.

Therefore, Microsoft started working on the project to combine Windows 95 and Windows NT into one operating system in the late 1990s. The outcome was Windows 2000, which was introduced in the year 2000. Windows XP for PCs and Windows Server were then released the following year. 2002 was followed by 2003.

Other Windows releases include:

• Windows Vista in January 2007
• Windows 7 in October 2009
• Windows 8 in October 2012 (later updated to Windows 8.1)
• Windows 10 in July 2015
• Windows 11 in October 2021

Learn about the differences between Windows 11 and Windows 10 here.

Windows Server 

Active Directory, which automates the management of user data, security, and distributed resources, as well as enabling interoperability with other directories, is one of the key components of the Windows Server operating system. Another key component is Server Manager, a tool for managing server roles and making configuration changes on local or remote machines.

Early versions of enterprise operating systems included:

• Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server in 1993
• Windows NT 3.5 Server in 1994
• Windows NT 4.0 Server in 1996
• Windows 2000 Server in 2000

Later versions adopted a "Windows Server" nomenclature plus the year they were released. These versions include:

• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2003 R2 in 2005
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2009
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 R2 in 2013
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022

Learn about the features in the Windows Server 2022 editions here.