What Is Microsoft?
Microsoft is an American multinational computer technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computers. The best known of these are the Windows operating system, the Office suite of productivity software, and the Visual Studio development environment. The company also creates and publishes a variety of video games through its Xbox game console systems, as well as tablet hardware and cloud computing platforms.
In addition to its core product lines, Microsoft has also expanded into the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence. Its IoT offerings include Azure Sphere, a family of security-focused IoT devices; Microsoft Azure, a public cloud platform; and the Cortana personal assistant, a voice-activated AI digital personal assistant. Microsoft has also been developing the Surface Pro line of tablet computers since 2012.
Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft was initially created to develop a BASIC interpreter for one of the first home computers. The company entered the computer gaming market in 2001 with the release of its Xbox console system, a direct competitor to Sony and Nintendo’s PlayStation and Wii console systems respectively. Microsoft has also developed a line of tablet computers, the Surface series, which are sold bundled with the Windows operating system.
The company diversified into the information services industry with its online news portal MSNBC and the multimedia encyclopedia Encarta, both of which were discontinued in 2009. In 2011, the company launched the Bing search engine as a competitor to Google and other competing search engines.
On its way to becoming one of the world’s leading software companies, Microsoft acquired and developed a number of other technologies. These acquisitions included search technology, email, photo-sharing, and word processing. The company also forged strategic alliances with other technology companies to expand its product portfolio.
In 2023, the company made waves in the video game industry when it began to buy up some of its biggest competitors. It has also been a major player in the field of artificial intelligence, with its Dynamics 365 business applications and Azure artificial intelligence (A.I.) service being among the most popular. Despite these successes, the company has had some major setbacks as of late, including layoffs that have impacted employees at various levels within the organization. In the wake of these challenges, the company is working to increase its transparency around its product strategies.