Company overview of Microsoft

Our Company

•	Company Overview
•	Company History
•	Profile

Where technology meets potential

In the past quarter of a century, Microsoft has grown from small start-up to Fortune 500 success by creating innovative software, and working diligently to help customers realise their full potential.

When you view our company profile, you'll see examples of the ground-breaking products and services we're developing for today's customers and learn about our commitment to exploring tomorrow's frontiers.

Building for the future

To be in the best position to accelerate these new technologies as they emerge, we have recently reorganised our company around seven core businesses. This new structure streamlines decision-making, encourages entrepreneurship throughout our company, and increases collaboration across groups.

In addition, we have embraced a new corporate mission: to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realise their full potential. Propelling this mission are the values and tenets that have served us well in the past, and that have been newly articulated to unify and inspire our people.

It's an exciting time to be at Microsoft

One thing we've learned over our brief history is that nothing is impossible. Just as people around the world embraced our original vision of a computer on every desk and in every home, we are confident that the future will hold amazing new technologies that will further enable people and businesses around the world to realise their full potential.

Company History

A rich history of ideas

To some, our company's early vision - "A PC on every desk and in every home" - must have seemed like science fiction.

But Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, were passionate about the same idea. They envisioned bringing computers to life by developing software - the instructions that make electronic devices work - that would make computing power accessible to everyone.

Today, their vision is close to reality.

Powerful tools such as Microsoft Office and the Tablet PC help individuals and businesses automate common tasks, accomplish more in less time, and stay connected.
Internet-based communications such as Microsoft Hotmail and Microsoft Windows Messenger help you stay in touch from any computer with Web access.
Educational software- including Microsoft Encarta online and the CD-ROM reference series - helps students learn about the world.
Researchers continue to find innovative ways to solve complex problems.
Professional communities collaborate and share information online.

At Microsoft, we believe that the true measure of our success is not just in the power of our software, but in the potential it unleashes in us all. We focus every day on developing new ways to provide affordable, accessible software that can help unlock extraordinary opportunities. With great ideas - and great software - our future has no limits.

Company Profile

From revolution to evolution, Microsoft continues a tradition of innovation

In 1975, you couldn't buy a personal computer - unless you wanted to build it yourself. Collaborating with colleagues meant poring over photo or carbon copies of documents. And keeping in touch? Most of us were limited to letters or the telephone.

Yet, in 1975, Bill Gates and Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, saw the potential to turn a hobbyist's toy into something more. They sold the first software language program, called BASIC, for the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Altair 8800, the first "personal computer." BASIC, and the many software programs that followed from Microsoft developers and partners, helped spark a technology revolution that has transformed how we do business, how we live, and how we learn.

At Microsoft, we create software - the instructions that help electronic devices like computers, cars and digital cameras work. Millions of people around the world use our technology every day, from multinational corporations that do business in many currencies and languages to small companies that count on just-in-time inventory systems to keep orders flowing. Educators and students use our software for lesson plans, homework and collaborating on projects. In the home, families manage their personal finances, share photographs and communicate online.

From revolution to evolution

Innovative software from Microsoft and our partners continues to transform how we work and how we play:

Mobile computing options such as the Microsoft Windows system-based Tablet PC and Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition (US link) let you work wherever you are, with many of the same powerful Microsoft Office programs that make creating and sharing documents, presentations, and data with others easy to do. At the Centre for Information Work (US link), Microsoft and partners like Sony, Intel and Acer are building prototypes that may help us be more productive in the future.

New technologies such as Microsoft .NET Web Services (US link) help companies share data efficiently with internal applications or with suppliers via the Internet, making it easier to manage IT costs while making new business capabilities possible.

Our enterprise-ready servers are built with a scalable and reliable architecture that can grow as your company's needs evolve. Plus, our worldwide network of partners builds innovative solutions that solve real business problems.

Technology for your home - TV programs, music, digital video, photos and DVDs - can now be stored in one easy-to-access location with the Windows XP Media Centre Edition (US link).

Our communities bring people together, from developers working in real time on code to online bridge players on MSN. Online gamers experience state-of-the-art graphics and an active community of players on Xbox.

The digital decade

The next 10 years - what Bill Gates calls "the digital decade" - hold even more promise.

We believe that computers powered by Microsoft .NET technology will make Internet-based computing and communications easier, more personalised, and more productive for individuals and businesses. We envision smart software continuing to help integrate technology into the everyday fabric of our lives, keeping us connected to the people, activities, and information that are meaningful to us. And we know that we'll continue to be motivated and inspired by how innovative software helps change lives.

At Microsoft, it's our belief that the true measure of our success is not in the power of our software, but in the power it unleashes in us all.