Microsoft Corporation is a company that makes computer software and video games. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started the company in 1975. Microsoft makes Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office (including Microsoft Word), Edge, MSN and Xbox, among others. Most Microsoft programs cannot be downloaded for free–people have to buy them in a shop or online. Some products (like the Windows operating system) are often already installed when people buy a new computer.

Microsoft is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet (parent company of Google), Amazon, Apple, and Meta (parent company of Facebook).

Logo
Software
Services
Hardware
Images for kids
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Logo

Microsoft adopted the so-called "Pac-Man Logo," designed by Scott Baker, in 1987.

On August 23, 2012, Microsoft unveiled a new corporate logo at the opening of its 23rd Microsoft store in Boston, indicating the company's shift of focus from the classic style to the tile-centric modern interface, which it uses/will use on the Windows Phone platform, Xbox 360, Windows 8 and the upcoming Office Suites. The new logo also includes four squares with the colors of the then-current Windows logo which have been used to represent Microsoft's four major products: Windows (blue), Office (orange), Xbox (green) and Bing (yellow). The logo also resembles the opening of one of the commercials for Windows 95.

Microsoft logo history
1975–1980: First Microsoft logo, in 1975
1980–1982: Second Microsoft logo, in 1980
1982–1987: Third Microsoft logo, in 1982
1987–2012: Microsoft "Pac-Man" logo, designed by Scott Baker and used from 1987 to 2012
2012–present: Fifth Microsoft logo, introduced on August 23, 2012

Software

Microsoft Windows is an operating system, which means that it is the basic software that makes people's computers work and lets other programs work. The majority of desktop and laptop computers run Windows, and so do some tablet computers and a few smartphones. The latest version of Windows is Windows 11. The latest server version is Windows Server 2022.
Microsoft Office is an office suite. It lets people write documents on their computer with Microsoft Word, make charts and graphs with Microsoft Excel, make presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint, and send email with Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft SharePoint is a server tool included in Microsoft Office (2007, 2013). Microsoft Expression series was a web development tool.
Internet Explorer is a piece of software that lets people look at things online (known as browsing) and download things from the Internet. In 2015, it was replaced by Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft also makes other programs for the Internet. Many of them are called Windows Live services, with the name Windows Live put in front of the old name of the service, like Windows Live Hotmail. After 2012, the Windows Live name was less used.
Microsoft Bing is an internet search engine for finding things online. Bing Maps shows maps.
Microsoft BASIC is the very first product made by Microsoft. It was created in 1975.
Xenix is the first operating system licensed and then developed by Microsoft in the late 1970s.
MS-DOS is the second operating system acquired and then developed by Microsoft in 1981, used for primitive computers and terminals.
Minecraft and many other programs have been bought by Microsoft and developed further.

Services

Although Microsoft is best known for its software products, the company also runs a number of web services. They include:

Outlook.com is a webmail service. When Microsoft created this service in 1996, it was called Hotmail. It is used to send and receive email, manage a calendar of events and tasks, and a list of contacts (such as phone numbers and email addresses).
OneDrive is a file hosting service. It was started in 2007 and was called "SkyDrive" at the time. Users can upload files to a web server and get them on a variety of devices, including PCs and mobile devices.
Skype is a VoIP and social media service. It was not created by Microsoft, but by a company called Skype SARL, which was later bought out by Microsoft. The Skype program or mobile app lets people make phone calls through the Internet to other Skype users for free and, for a fee, landline phones.
LinkedIn is a social networking service for people with professional jobs. Like Skype, it was not created by Microsoft but by another company which Microsoft later bought. The site lets people post information about their jobs and skills to help employers look for new people to hire.
MSN is a web portal where people can read news and get information about different topics. It was created in 1995 and at one point its services were made under the brand name of "Windows Live". MSN used to have an instant messaging service, MSN Messenger, but that has since become part of Skype.
Bing is a search engine similar to Google. It used to be under the MSN brand and was later known as Live Search, but became its own service in 2009. Bing is known for the different images that appear on the background of its home page.

Hardware

Microsoft has also made a wide variety of hardware over the years. Among them are computer accessories like mice, keyboards, and webcams.

The company also makes and promotes a video game console, Xbox. It lets people play video games on their televisions. The games were first stored on CDs, but many recent games are downloaded from the Internet. There have been three generations of Xbox. The first generation came out in 2001 and was just called Xbox, while the second, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005. The third model is the Xbox One in May 2013. In 2020, Microsoft introduced Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Beginning with the Xbox 360, Microsoft introduced Xbox Live, which lets people play games online against other people anywhere in the world. The Xbox has become very popular and more than 150 million units have been sold worldwide. Because of this, Microsoft is considered one of the three big companies that make video game consoles, along with Nintendo and Sony.

Most recently, Microsoft has also started to make its own PCs, called the Surface. The first model was announced in 2012 and the Surface line now includes tablets that use either ARM or Intel processors, two models of laptops called the Surface Book and Surface Laptop, an all-in-one PC called the Surface Studio, and an interactive whiteboard, the Surface Hub.

In 2014, Microsoft bought the mobile phone division of Nokia, a Finnish company, which then became Microsoft Mobile. The sale included the Lumia family of smartphones, which use Microsoft's own Windows Phone platform. From 2014 to 2016, Microsoft Mobile also made feature phones with the Nokia brand. Then the feature phone business was sold to HMD global, which continues to produce both feature phones and Android smartphones under license from Nokia.

Images for kids

An Altair 8800 computer (left) with the popular Model 33 ASR Teletype as terminal, paper tape reader, and paper tape punch
Paul Allen and Bill Gates on October 19, 1981, after signing a pivotal contract with IBM
Windows 1.0 was released on November 20, 1985, as the first version of the Windows line.
In 1996, Microsoft released Windows CE, a version of the operating system meant for personal digital assistants and other tiny computers, shown here on the HP 300LX.
Microsoft released the first installment in the Xbox series of consoles in 2001. The Xbox, graphically powerful compared to its rivals, featured a standard PC's 733 MHz Intel Pentium III processor.
CEO Steve Ballmer at the MIX event in 2008. In an interview about his management style in 2005, he mentioned that his first priority was to get the people he delegates to in order. Ballmer also emphasized the need to continue pursuing new technologies even if initial attempts fail, citing the original attempts with Windows as an example.
Headquarters of the European Commission, which has imposed several fines on Microsoft
Surface Pro 3, part of the Surface series of laplets by Microsoft
The Xbox One console, released in 2013
Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as the CEO of Microsoft in February 2014.
The Nokia Lumia 1320, the Microsoft Lumia 535 and the Nokia Lumia 530, which all run on one of the now-discontinued Windows Phone operating systems
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin using a Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset in September 2016
Windows 8 Launch Event in Akihabara, Tokyo on October 25, 2012
The west campus of the Microsoft Redmond campus
Microsoft's Toronto flagship store
Toyota Yaris WRC

Microsoft facts for kids

Contents

Logo

Software

Services

Hardware

Images for kids

See also