In 2004, the company released Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, a version of Windows XP designed for multimedia abilities, and Windows XP Starter Edition, a version of Windows XP with a smaller feature set designed for entry-level consumers. Windows Server 2003 was launched, featuring enhanced administration abilities, such as new user interfaces to server tools. The console was also outsold by the Wii, which introduced gesture control and opened up a new market for video games.
Activity grew quickly as developers from around the world began to participate, and by early 2007 commercial open source companies, such as Aras Corp. began to offer enterprise open source software exclusively on the Microsoft platform. Later, in 2006, the company launched Microsoft adCenter, a service that offers pay per click advertisements, in an effort to further develop their search marketing revenue. In 2002, Microsoft launched the .NET initiative, along with new versions of some of its development products, such as Microsoft Visual Studio. Microsoft, in 2000, released new products for all three lines of the company’s flagship operating system, and saw the beginning of the end of one of its most prominent legal cases. Windows CE 2.0, the handheld version of Windows, was released this year, including a host of bug fixes and new features designed to make it more appealing to corporate customers. In 1997, Internet Explorer 4.0 was released, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival Netscape, and by agreement with Apple, Internet Explorer was bundled with the Apple Macintosh operating system as well as with Windows.
December also saw the company rebuilding Microsoft Edge as a Chromium-based browser; it was publicly released on January 15, 2020. Developed in part by researchers from Kindai University, the water pump mechanisms use artificial intelligence to count the number of fish on a conveyor belt, analyze the number of fish, and deduce the effectiveness of water flow from the data the fish provide. On June 8, 2017, Microsoft acquired Hexadite, an Israeli security firm, for $100 million (~$125 million in 2024). Microsoft will launch a preview of Intune for Education “in the coming weeks”, with general availability scheduled for spring 2017, priced at $30 (~$38.00 in 2024) per device, or through volume licensing agreements. Intune for Education is a new cloud-based application and device management service for the education sector. The server sibling to Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, was released in September 2016.
2020: Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft Edge and HoloLens
- In 1983, in collaboration with numerous companies, Microsoft created a home computer system, MSX, which contained its own version of the DOS operating system, called MSX-DOS; this became relatively popular in Japan, Europe and South America.
- On June 8, 2017, Microsoft acquired Hexadite, an Israeli security firm, for $100 million (~$125 million in 2024).
- Microsoft plans to invest $17.5 billion in India over the next four years, expanding its AI and cloud footprint in the South Asian nation, whose vast online and smartphone user base is turning it into a critical battleground for global tech companies.
- 1991 also marked the founding of Microsoft Research, an organization in Microsoft for researching computer science subjects, and Microsoft Visual Basic, a popular development product for companies and individuals.
- Microsoft also released the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick in an attempt to further expand its profile in the computer hardware market.
In December 2018, Microsoft announced Project Mu, an open source release of the UEFI core used in Microsoft Surface and Hyper-V products. On October 8, 2017, Joe Belfiore announced that work on Windows 10 Mobile was drawing to a close due to lack of market penetration and resultant lack of interest from app developers. During the previous summer of 2015 the company wrote down $7.6 billion (~$9.8 billion in 2024) related to its mobile-phone business and fired 7,800 employees from those operations. In May 2016, the company announced it will lay off 1,850 workers, taking an impairment and restructuring charge of $950 million (~$1.21 billion in 2024).
Ireland became home to one of Microsoft’s international production facilities in 1985, and on November 20 Microsoft released its first retail version of Microsoft Windows (Windows 1.0), originally a graphical extension for its MS-DOS operating system. With the release of the Microsoft Mouse on May 2, 1983, Microsoft continued to expand its product line in other markets. Later, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones after Columbia Data Products successfully cloned the IBM BIOS, quickly followed by Eagle Computer and Compaq. In 1983, in collaboration with numerous companies, Microsoft created a home computer system, MSX, which contained its own version of the DOS operating system, called MSX-DOS; this became relatively popular in Japan, Europe and South America.
- During the show, Ballmer announced the first public Beta Test of Windows 7 for partners and developers on January 8, but also for the general public two days later.
- In December 2022, Microsoft announced a new 10-year deal with the London Stock Exchange for products including Microsoft Azure; Microsoft acquired ~4% of the latter company as part of the deal.
- In 2004, the company released Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, a version of Windows XP designed for multimedia abilities, and Windows XP Starter Edition, a version of Windows XP with a smaller feature set designed for entry-level consumers.
- The Redmond-based company also said it will open a new data center region in Hyderabad by mid-2026, its largest in India, comprising three availability zones — a footprint the company described as roughly the size of two Eden Gardens stadiums.
In April 2021, Microsoft announced it would buy Nuance Communications for approximately $16 billion (~$18.2 billion in 2024). On September 21, 2020, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire video game company ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, for about $7.5 billion, with the deal expected to occur in the second half of 2021 fiscal year. On March 26, 2020, Microsoft announced it was acquiring Affirmed Networks for about $1.35 billion (~$1.61 billion in 2024).
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To cope with the potential for an increase in demand for products and services, Microsoft opened a number of “holiday stores” across the U.S. to complement the increasing number of “bricks-and-mortar” Microsoft Stores that opened in 2012. On October 1, pin up casino Microsoft announced its intention to launch a news operation, part of a new-look MSN, at the time of the Windows 8 launch that was later in the month. On July 31, 2012, Microsoft launched the Outlook.com webmail service beta to compete with Gmail. A developer preview was released on September 13, and was replaced by a consumer preview on February 29, 2012.
Is widely recognized as the most influential company in the microcomputer-software industry. InfoWorld stated in 1984 that Microsoft, with $55 million (~$140 million in 2024) in 1983 sales, When the IBM PC debuted, Microsoft was the only company that offered operating system, programming language, and application software for the new computer. Due to potential copyright infringement problems with CP/M, IBM marketed both CP/M and PC DOS for US$240 and US$40, respectively, with PC DOS eventually becoming the standard because of its lower price.
In an internal memo to Microsoft employees on May 16, 1991, Bill Gates announced that the OS/2 partnership was over, and that Microsoft would henceforth focus its platform efforts on Windows and the Windows NT kernel. The new version of Microsoft’s operating system boasted new features such as streamlined graphic user interface GUI and improved protected mode ability for the Intel 386 processor; it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks. Unlike the model of Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office was a bundle of separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and so forth. On August 8, 1989, Microsoft introduced its most successful office product, Microsoft Office.
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In October, Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released with integrated networking abilities such as peer-to-peer file and printing sharing. Novell, an owner of WordPerfect for a time, alleged that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and of undocumented Application Programming Interface features to make Office perform better than its competitors. During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft Office allowed the company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. By 1989 Jerry Pournelle described Microsoft as “the Redmond giant”, citing PowerPoint’s features and “extraordinarily complete” documentation as examples of the “kind of quality that makes it difficult for small outfits to compete with” the company. 1991 also marked the founding of Microsoft Research, an organization in Microsoft for researching computer science subjects, and Microsoft Visual Basic, a popular development product for companies and individuals.
2007: Foray into the Web, Windows 95, Windows XP, and Xbox
On August 24, 1995, it launched a major online service, MSN (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to AOL. On August 24, 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, a new version of the company’s flagship operating system which featured a completely new user interface, including a novel start button; more than a million copies were sold in the first four days after its release. The interface was discontinued in 1996 due to poor sales; Bill Gates later attributed its failure to hardware requirements that were too high for typical computers, and is widely regarded as one of Microsoft’s most unsuccessful products. The company released Microsoft Bob, a graphical user interface designed for novice computer users, in March 1995. Microsoft also released Windows for Workgroups 3.11, a new version of the consumer line of Windows, and Windows NT 3.1, a server-based operating system with a similar user interface to consumer versions of the operating system, but with an entirely different kernel.
Microsoft to invest $17.5B in India by 2029 as AI race accelerates
Microsoft also said it is rolling out new sovereign cloud options for Indian customers, including a Sovereign Public Cloud now available across its India regions and a Sovereign Private Cloud powered by Azure Local for both connected and air-gapped operations. As part of the push, Microsoft also announced it will work with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to integrate advanced AI capabilities into two of its flagship digital public platforms — e-Shram and the National Career Service — to offer AI-driven services to more than 310 million informal workers. Microsoft said it will continue expanding its three existing data-center regions in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune. The Redmond-based company also said it will open a new data center region in Hyderabad by mid-2026, its largest in India, comprising three availability zones — a footprint the company described as roughly the size of two Eden Gardens stadiums.
Microsoft launched their second console, the Xbox 360, in 2005 – which was more successful than the original. Microsoft entered the multibillion-dollar game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo, with the release of the Xbox. The operating system was the first to require Microsoft Product Activation, an anti-piracy mechanism that requires users to activate the software with Microsoft within 30 days.
Microsoft Works, an integrated office program which combined features typically found in a word processor, spreadsheet, database and other office applications, saw its first release as an application for the Apple Macintosh towards the end of 1986. Microsoft also marketed through an Apple dealer in West Palm Beach, Florida two products for the Radio-Shack TRS-80. The company, which has operated in India for more than three decades, employs more than 22,000 people in the country and has been expanding cloud and data center capacity to support advanced computing needs. Microsoft’s latest India investment plan tops its earlier announcement this year of investing $3 billion in building cloud and AI infrastructure, as well as new data centers and skilling the workforce over the next two years. The announcement underscores the growing global competition among major technology companies to expand in India, which has become one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. NEW DELHI (AP) — Microsoft on Tuesday announced its biggest-ever Asia investment, amounting to $17.5 billion, in India over the next four years to advance the country’s cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
In 2008, Microsoft wanted to purchase Yahoo (first completely, later partially) in order to strengthen its position on the search engine market vis-à-vis Google. On the advertisement side of the deal, Microsoft’s Atlas ad-serving division became the exclusive provider of previously unsold advertising inventory on Viacom owned web sites. The deal also made Viacom a preferred publisher partner for casual game development and distribution through MSN and Windows.
On November 10, 2020, Microsoft released the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S video game consoles. On September 22, 2020, Microsoft announced that it had an exclusive license to use OpenAI’s GPT-3 artificial intelligence language generator. On July 22, 2020, Microsoft announced plans to close its Mixer service, planning to move existing partners to Facebook Gaming. On February 20, 2019, Microsoft Corp said it will offer its cyber security service AccountGuard to 12 new markets in Europe including Germany, France and Spain, to close security gaps and protect customers in political space from hacking. In January 2019, Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 Mobile would end on December 10, 2019, and that Windows 10 Mobile users should migrate to iOS or Android phones.