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N0KFQ > TODAY 04.04.16 15:16l 65 Lines 3077 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 4
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Sent: 160404/1408Z 89525@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1975
Microsoft founded
On this day in 1975, at a time when most Americans use
typewriters, childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded
Microsoft, a company that makes computer software. Originally
based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Microsoft relocated to
Washington State in 1979 and eventually grew into a major
multinational technology corporation. In 1987, the year after
Microsoft went public, 31-year-old Gates became the world's
youngest billionaire.
Gates and Allen started Microsoft_originally called Micro-Soft,
for microprocessors and software_in order to produce software for
the Altair 8800, an early personal computer. Allen quit his job
as a programmer in Boston and Gates left Harvard University,
where he was a student, to focus on their new company, which was
based in Albuquerque because the city was home to electronics
firm MITS, maker of the Altair 8800. By the end of 1978,
Microsoft's sales topped more than $1 million and in 1979 the
business moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington, a suburb
of Seattle, where Gates and Allen grew up. The company went on to
license its MS-DOS operating system to IBM for its first personal
computer, which debuted in 1981. Afterward, other computer
companies started licensing MS-DOS, which had no graphical
interface and required users to type in commands in order to open
a program. In 1983, Allen departed Microsoft after being
diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma; he was successfully treated
for the disease and went on to pursue a variety of other business
ventures.
In 1985, Microsoft released a new operating system, Windows, with
a graphical user interface that included drop-down menus, scroll
bars and other features. The following year, the company moved
its headquarters to Redmond, Washington, and went public at $21 a
share, raising $61 million. By the late 1980s, Microsoft had
become the world's biggest personal-computer software company,
based on sales. In 1995, amidst skyrocketing purchases of
personal computers for home and office use, Windows 95 made its
debut. It included such innovations as the Start menu (TV
commercials for Windows 95 featured the Rolling Stones singing
"Start Me Up") and 7 million copies of the new product were sold
in the first five weeks. During the second half of the 1990s,
Internet usage took off, and Microsoft introduced its web
browser, Internet Explorer, in 1995.
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 state attorneys
general charged Microsoft with violating antitrust laws by using
its dominance to drive competitors out of business; in 2001, the
company reached a settlement with the government that imposed
restrictions on its corporate practices. Also in 2001, Microsoft
joined the video-game market with the launch of its Xbox console,
which proved to be a hit. However, in the first decade of the
21st century Microsoft fell behind companies such as Apple in the
mobile-phone market and Google in the search-engine market.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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