1. The Unexpected Beginnings
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Originally aimed to be a company that makes software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer, their initial plan was not to create an operating system that will dramatically revolutionize the computing world.
2. A Partnership Worth Billions
In 1980, IBM was looking for software to operate their upcoming personal computer (PC) and approached Microsoft. Microsoft didn't initially have one but referred IBM to Digital Research who had CP/M operating system. When the negotiations between IBM and Digital Research didn’t go well, Microsoft took its chance and bought an operating system from Seattle Computer Products and turned it into MS-DOS. This IBM-Microsoft partnership immediately made Microsoft a major player in the industry.
3. The Iconic 'Bliss'
The most viewed photo "Bliss" was taken by Charles O'Rear, a former National Geographic photographer. It was taken in Sonoma County, California, and was used as the default computer wallpaper for the Windows XP operating system.
4. Bill Gates’ Redecorating Idea
For the Microsoft Redmond campus, Bill Gates had an idea that every employee location and office equipment should be changed around every six months. However, this idea was quickly discarded after it was considered impractical.
5. A Soundtrack by Music Legend
The startup sound for Windows 95 was composed by Brian Eno, famous for his work with U2 and David Bowie. The brief was to create a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, and emotional. All this in a 3.5-second composition!
6. Microsoft's Rivalry with Apple
During the 1990s, Microsoft was the rival of Apple, and it was said to be the 'Evil Empire'. Oddly, despite their competition, Microsoft saved Apple from bankruptcy in 1997 by investing $150 million in them.
7. The Millionaire Employees
When Microsoft went public in 1986, the rising stock market endowed 12,000 Microsoft millionaires among the company employees.
8. The Ambitious Mission
Microsoft's mission was to have “a computer on every desk and in every home.” It’s fair to say they’ve achieved that aim with around 80% of the world’s computers running on Windows.
9. The Billionaire School Drop Out
Bill Gates is famously a Harvard dropout. He left in 1975 to focus on developing the company and became the future billionaire we know today.
10. The Evolution of the Logo
Microsoft's first logo used from 1975 to 1980 was in the disco-era and the final logo was designed in 1982 by Scott Baker. As of 2012, the logo had a significant design change and the wave was replaced with a square tile layout similar to the Metro interface found on their projects.
11. No License and No-Go
Microsoft’s big break came in 1980 when IBM chose their system, instead of the better-known CP/M operating system, largely because the latter had no licensing agreement.
12. Not a Fear of Heights
The buildings in Microsoft's Redmond campus are named with numbers but there's no building 7. It’s a mystery why there is no building 7 at the campus. Fans and conspiracy theorists have speculated, but Microsoft has never officially commented.
13. The Windows Reign
To date, Microsoft Windows holds the record for the fastest selling OS in history. A mind-boggling 40 million Windows 8 licenses were sold within the first month of its release.
14. Microsoft's Green Initiative
Microsoft is also a leader in sustainability. Their Puget Sound campuses boast water and energy conservation features, and 99% of their food waste is composted or recycled.
15. The Unintended Toy
The name DirectX, a collection of application programming interfaces designed to handle tasks related to game programming, came about during a meeting of Microsoft engineers when someone used it as shorthand for 'Direct X-Box.' The name stuck, although the 'X-Box' has since become a major product line for the company.
16. What's in a Name?
"Microsoft" is a portmanteau of "microcomputer" and "software". The original logo featured ‘Micro’ and ‘Soft’ kamikaze’d into one word with a hyphen for effect: Micro-Soft.
17. Bill Gates’ All-Time High
At the height of the dot com boom in 1999, Bill Gates’ net worth surpassed $100 billion, earning him the title of the world’s first centi-billionaire.
18. Longest Line of Code
The 'Windows NT 3.1’ operating system was completed after an extraordinary 50 million lines of code had been written.
19. The Famous Interview
When Steve Ballmer was interviewed for a job at Microsoft in 1980, he was interviewed by Bill Gates himself. Later, Ballmer went on to become the CEO of Microsoft in 2000.
20. The Billionaire Philanthropists
Bill Gates, along with his wife Melinda Gates, is one of the world’s most active philanthropists. Through their foundation, they have donated billions to causes around the world like health, education, hunger, and poverty.