Microsoft has been around since the ‘70s, when Paul Allen and Bill Gates first developed an operating system in their dorm room at Harvard University. Since then, it’s grown into the largest software company in the world, with the biggest market share of the desktop operating system (Windows) and a large variety of other products and services like cloud computing (Office 365), search engine (Bing), video game consoles (Xbox), developer tools (Visual Studio), enterprise software (SharePoint), email service (Outlook) and more. Here are tell about 10 intresting facts about Microsoft you probably dont know.
1) The company's name was inspired by microcomputer
Microsoft actually started out as a company that created software for microcomputers. Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded it in 1975 in Albuquerque, NM—Allen’s home town—and called it Micro-Soft; Gates’ name was added to make it easier to pronounce. Allen leave Microsoft in 1982 after the appraisal with Hodgkin's lymphoma. His shares were split among his three children and other executives at Microsoft, who are still among its largest shareholders.
2) Bill Gates' first product was software for traffic lights
It's hard to imagine that one of history's richest men, an icon of capitalist entrepreneurialism, spent his early years programming for bureaucrats. But according to author Stephen Manes in Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America, that's exactly what Bill Gates did during his teenage years. Gates developed software for controlling traffic lights after a police officer saw him hacking into a university computer system at night. He was only 16 at the time.
3) In 1976, Microsoft had its initial public offering (IPO) on the stock market
it was offered at $21 a share and closed at $28.75. Its stocks reached a high of $92.78 in 1999 and have been hovering between $20 to $40 since 2006. Here are 10 facts about Microsoft you almost didn’t know
4) When it was founded, the company was called Micro-Soft (sic), but it was almost bankrupt only two years later.
Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Micro-Soft was originally a developer of programming languages for microcomputers. When it began marketing its own line of software, sales were so poor that the company almost went bankrupt two years later. It changed its name to Microsoft in 1978 and refocused on software development to save itself from financial ruin.
5) The current spelling of the word came in 1987, when it started being capitalized.
There’s a reason why Windows is capitalized. When it was first released in 1983, Bill Gates and his team of developers wanted to differentiate their operating system from other systems at that time—namely, Mac OS and Commodore 64′s GEOS.
6) It's headquartered in Washington State
The world’s largest software company has been based in Redmond, Washington since its inception. This makes it one of only a handful of major corporations headquartered in Seattle. It was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who met while students at Lakeside School in Seattle. While Gates went on to Harvard, Allen stayed in Seattle and attended Washington State University. In 1973, Gates dropped out of Harvard and began working with Allen at Honeywell while they worked on what would eventually become Microsoft BASIC.
7) Its global headquarters are on its corporate campus in Redmond, Washington, United States.
Located in Washington, United States. The original Microsoft was Created April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates or Paul Allen. Their first product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 computer kit.
8) Its Asian offices are located in Beijing and Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; and Singapore.
Beijing and Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; and Singapore. Bill Gates left Microsoft in 2006 to focus on his charity work through The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Both he and Steve Ballmer serve as board members of that foundation.: In 2006, Gates left his full-time duties at Microsoft to focus on charity work through The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He still owns 5 percent of company stock and served as an advisor for a time before stepping down completely in 2014. Steven A.
9) Its European headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland; Munich, Germany; Reading (UK); London (UK); and Amsterdam (Netherlands).
The company European headquarters located in Dublin, Ireland; Munich, Germany; Reading (UK); London (UK); and Amsterdam (Netherlands). The main offices of its Asian subsidiary, Microsoft Asia-Pacific, are located in Beijing (China), Bengaluru (India), Hong Kong and Seoul (South Korea). Its Australian subsidiary has offices in Sydney and Melbourne.
10) The company also has offices across North America and Latin America
1) Redmond, Washington; 2) San Francisco, California; 3) Los Angeles, California; 4) Austin, Texas; 5) Dallas/Fort Worth Area, Texas; 6) Ottawa Canada; 7) Montreal Canada ; 8 ) Toronto Canada ; 9 ) Mexico City 10) Buenos Aires Argentina. Another company office is located in China just outside of Beijing. The company also has R&D facilities in Asia and India. The new Microsoft Technology Center research lab in Bangalore was launched on October 15th 2010.