4 April 1975 appeared to Microsoft, which had a significant impact on the world. It was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen as a manufacturer of computer software Altair and later for IBM-compatible computers. The name was coined by Allen based on a combination of words «microprocessor» and «software». In 80 years, Microsoft has become the largest company in the field of software and retains this status today.
In 1986, Microsoft held a public offering on the stock exchange, and the rising cost of shares allowed three shareholders become billionaires, and even about 12,000 millionaires. Now the number of employees worldwide was 125 000, Microsoft is capitalization ranked fourth in the world after Apple, the oil giant Exxon Mobile and Google.
In the past decade, Microsoft has had to face the challenges of the new era, where mobile devices are consuming popularity with personal computers, and legacy applications are increasingly replaced with cloud services. In Redmond did not immediately grasped the scale of the spread of mobile devices, so now they have to play the role of catch-up behind Apple and Google.
However, Windows is still installed on more than 90% of computers worldwide, Microsoft Office remains the undisputed leader among office applications, and to the number of company-owned brands include the popular Xbox, Skype, Cortana, Windows Server, Bing, Windows Phone / Nokia , OneDrive / Azure and others. Annual revenue is about $ 80 billion.
Bill Gates wrote an open letter of congratulations to the company's employees.
"Today is a special day - Microsoft 40 years. A long time ago, Paul Allen and I set a goal to bring computers into every home and on every desk. It was a very bold idea, and many people thought we were crazy, imagining the possibility. It's amazing to think how far stepped computers since and we are proud of the role that Microsoft has played in this revolution.Today, however, I think about the future, Microsoft even more than before. I believe that in the next decade, computer technology will evolve even more rapidly.We already exist in a multi-platform world, and computers penetrate deeper into our lives. We are approaching a point where computers and robots will be able to see, move and interact in a natural way, opening up entirely new possibilities.Under the direction of Satya Nadella Microsoft's position as strong as ever in order to become a leader in new areas. We have the necessary resources to address the fundamental problems; We are involved in all aspects of modern computing, and are actively engaged in research. In my role as technical adviser to Mr. Nadella I impressed with the results, including - Cortana, Skype Translator and HoloLens. In the future, we can expect even more innovation.In the coming years, Microsoft has the opportunity to modern solutions more accessible to more people and organizations around the world. For many technologies are still inaccessible because of the complexity, high cost, or simply lack of access. So I hope you will think about what more can be done to bring the technology to the masses, to connect people with each other and make personal computing available everywhere.We have done a lot for 40 years. But the most important thing now is that we will do next. Thank you for helping to turn Microsoft's outstanding company now and for decades to come".