Latest news with #Micro-Soft
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bill Gates Celebrates Microsoft's 50th Anniversary, but Admits It's a 'Bittersweet' Milestone
Bill Gates felt a range of emotions ahead of Microsoft's 50th anniversary. In a blog post published two days before the actual milestone on Friday, April 4, the billionaire philanthropist — who co-founded the company in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen — said he was "excited" to celebrate, but admitted that "reaching this milestone feels bittersweet." "I always love reflecting back on Microsoft's history and dreaming about its future," he wrote. "But it's also hard to believe that such a significant piece of my life has been around for a half-century." Related: Why Bill Gates Is Telling All About Life Before His Billions, from Trying LSD to Being Put in Therapy by His Parents (Exclusive) For Gates, 69, who has spent a lot of time reflecting on the early years of his life for his memoir Source Code, which came out in February, it's easy to remember the company's beginnings. Before Microsoft was even Micro-Soft (yes, that's a thing), Gates and Allen, who died in 2018, shared a love of computers. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "The story of how Microsoft came to be begins with, of all things, a magazine," Gates wrote in his blog post. The cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Mechanics featured a photo of an Altair 8800, which Gates described as a "groundbreaking personal computer kit that promised to bring computer power to hobbyists' 'When Paul and I saw that cover,' Gates continued, 'we knew two things: the PC revolution was imminent, and we wanted to get in on the ground floor.' The two friends knew that software would be the key to shaping how people interacted with computers, so they reached out to the company behind the Altair 8800 and told them they already had a version of BASIC – a programming language that's easy for even beginners to use – that would work for the machine. The only problem? They hadn't actually built that software just yet — but after 'lots of sleepless nights,' they did. And that software, which is made out of code, became Microsoft's first product. Related: Bill Gates Feared Getting Kicked Out of Harvard During His Sophomore Year. Here's What He Says Happened And in honor of the milestone anniversary, Gates shared a link to download that original source code. "Computer programming has come a long way," he added, "but I'm still super proud of how it turned out." Read the original article on People
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Microsoft celebrates 50th anniversary
Seattle-based tech giant Microsoft is celebrating 50 years in the business. In 1975, friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft – sometimes called Micro-Soft, for microprocessors and software – to develop software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer, Microsoft wrote on its website. In 1980, the pair struck a deal to provide the operating system for IBM's first personal computer. Microsoft released Windows in 1985, a year before moving its headquarters to Redmond, Washington. By the late 1980s, Microsoft was the world's largest personal-computer software company. How is the company celebrating its 50th anniversary? Microsoft is commemorating our 50-year anniversary by celebrating the achievements of our employees, customers and partners that have dreamt, built and used Microsoft technology as a force for good, while also looking ahead to the future. Microsoft recognizes that our success and growth globally would not have been possible without the support of the place we call home, the Puget Sound. We are honoring and awarding 50 local changemakers with $50,000 grants each to support the important work they do to address the needs of the region. Read more about the One Future, One Sound initiative. In Seattle, a Microsoft flag will be raised at the Space Needle at 7:15 a.m. There will also be several events throughout the day featuring live presentations and product showcases. You can see a full timeline of Microsoft's accomplishments and breakthroughs here.
Daily Tribune
01-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Tribune
Computer pioneer Microsoft turns 50 in the age of AI
Microsoft has been at the heart of computing for half a century, becoming a tech stalwart almost taken for granted as lifestyles embraced the internet. As the company, founded with a vision of putting computers in every home and office, celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, it is looking to boost its fortunes by being a leader in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI). "From a storytelling standpoint, they've been a boring company and a boring stock," eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said of the Richmond, Washington-based behemoth. "It's funny because they have a $2.9 trillion market cap, and that is huge," he continued, referring to Microsoft's value based on its share price. The only company with a higher market cap is iPhone maker Apple. Cloud computing is fueling Microsoft's revenue with the help of its ubiquitous Office software, now hosted online and no longer released in boxes of floppy disks or CDs. "It's not a very sexy infrastructure, but it's a very valuable one," Goldman said of Microsoft's data centers and software at the foundation of its cloud-computing platform. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are Microsoft's cloud-computing rivals. 'Micro-Soft' Clouds were the stuff of weather forecasts rather than computing when Bill Gates and childhood friend Paul Allen founded what was first called "Micro-Soft" in 1975. They launched the MS-DOS operating system that became known as "Windows" and went on to run most of the world's computers. Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel and PowerPoint became standard business tools, even fending off free Google Docs software. "Microsoft had a lot of businesses that were weaker and challenged -- the perfect example is Office," Goldman said. "That Office is still such a meaningful business for them says something about the way they were able to innovate." Current chief executive Satya Nadella championed a Microsoft shift to making its software available on just about any device as subscription services hosted in the cloud. The move likely saved Microsoft from seeing free services like Google Docs reduce their market share to zero, the analyst said. 'Achilles heel' Microsoft remains in the shadow of other US tech giants when it comes to offerings such as social networks, smartphones and the AI-infused digital assistants that have become woven into people's lives, but it is not for lack of effort. Microsoft introduced Xbox video game consoles in 2001, steadily building up its stable of studios, making the blockbuster buy of Activision Blizzard two years ago and adding an online subscription service for players. And despite its launch of the Bing search engine in 2009, Google still dominates that market. Microsoft in 2016 bought career-focused social network LinkedIn, which has seen steady growth. But it still lacks the reach of Meta's Facebook or Instagram, or the influence of Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter). Microsoft is among those in the running to buy TikTok, which faces a ban in the United States if not sold by China-based ByteDance. While Apple and Google have excelled at making it easy or even fun for users to engage with products, that has been an "Achilles heel" for Microsoft, according to Goldman. "It's never been a strong suit of theirs," the analyst said. Mobile miss Known for a focus on sales rather than innovation, Steve Ballmer, who followed Gates as chief of Microsoft from 2000 to 2013, has been faulted for missing the shift to smartphones and other mobile computing devices. His successor, Nadella, took over with a vow to make Microsoft a "mobile-first, cloudfirst" company and Microsoft has since invested heavily in AI, taking a stake in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and building the technology into offerings including Bing, though to little avail. Behind in AI? Independent analyst Jack Gold believes that despite those investments and efforts, Microsoft lags in AI because it lacks its own chips or foundation model. "They are not as advanced in that as AWS and Google, so they're still playing a little bit of catchup in that space," Gold said of Microsoft. Google Cloud's revenue growth is on pace to overtake Microsoft's Azure for second place in the market in two years, the analyst said.
Khaleej Times
31-03-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Computer pioneer Microsoft turns 50 in the age of AI
Microsoft has been at the heart of computing for half a century, becoming a tech stalwart almost taken for granted as lifestyles embraced the internet. As the company, founded with a vision of putting computers in every home and office, celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, it is looking to boost its fortunes by being a leader in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI). "From a storytelling standpoint, they've been a boring company and a boring stock," eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said of the Richmond, Washington-based behemoth. "It's funny because they have a $2.9 trillion market cap, and that is huge," he continued, referring to Microsoft's value based on its share price. The only company with a higher market cap is iPhone maker Apple. Cloud computing is fueling Microsoft's revenue with the help of its ubiquitous Office software, now hosted online and no longer released in boxes of floppy disks or CDs. "It's not a very trendy infrastructure, but it's a very valuable one," Goldman said of Microsoft's data centers and software at the foundation of its cloud-computing platform. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are Microsoft's cloud-computing rivals. 'Micro-Soft' Clouds were the stuff of weather forecasts rather than computing when Bill Gates and childhood friend Paul Allen founded what was first called "Micro-Soft" in 1975. They launched the MS-DOS operating system that became known as "Windows" and went on to run most of the world's computers. Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel and PowerPoint became standard business tools, even fending off free Google Docs software. "Microsoft had a lot of businesses that were weaker and challenged -- the perfect example is Office," Goldman said. "That Office is still such a meaningful business for them says something about the way they were able to innovate." Current chief executive Satya Nadella championed a Microsoft shift to making its software available on just about any device as subscription services hosted in the cloud. The move likely saved Microsoft from seeing free services like Google Docs reduce their market share to zero, the analyst said. 'Achilles heel' Microsoft remains in the shadow of other US tech giants when it comes to offerings such as social networks, smartphones and the AI-infused digital assistants that have become woven into people's lives, but it is not for lack of effort. Microsoft introduced Xbox video game consoles in 2001, steadily building up its stable of studios, making the blockbuster buy of Activision Blizzard two years ago and adding an online subscription service for players. And despite its launch of the Bing search engine in 2009, Google still dominates that market. Microsoft in 2016 bought career-focused social network LinkedIn, which has seen steady growth. But it still lacks the reach of Meta's Facebook or Instagram, or the influence of Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter). Microsoft is among those in the running to buy TikTok, which faces a ban in the United States if not sold by China-based ByteDance. While Apple and Google have excelled at making it easy or even fun for users to engage with products, that has been an "Achilles heel" for Microsoft, according to Goldman. "It's never been a strong suit of theirs," the analyst said. Mobile miss Known for a focus on sales rather than innovation, Steve Ballmer, who followed Gates as chief of Microsoft from 2000 to 2013, has been faulted for missing the shift to smartphones and other mobile computing devices. His successor, Nadella, took over with a vow to make Microsoft a "mobile-first, cloud-first" company and Microsoft has since invested heavily in AI, taking a stake in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and building the technology into offerings including Bing, though to little avail. Behind in AI? Independent analyst Jack Gold believes that despite those investments and efforts, Microsoft lags in AI because it lacks its own chips or foundation model. "They are not as advanced in that as AWS and Google, so they're still playing a little bit of catchup in that space," Gold said of Microsoft. Google Cloud's revenue growth is on pace to overtake Microsoft's Azure for second place in the market in two years, the analyst said.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Computer pioneer Microsoft turns 50 in the age of AI
Microsoft has been at the heart of computing for half a century, becoming a tech stalwart almost taken for granted as lifestyles embraced the internet. As the company, founded with a vision of putting computers in every home and office, celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, it is looking to boost its fortunes by being a leader in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI). "From a storytelling standpoint, they've been a boring company and a boring stock," eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said of the Richmond, Washington-based behemoth. "It's funny because they have a $2.9 trillion market cap, and that is huge," he continued, referring to Microsoft's value based on its share price. The only company with a higher market cap is iPhone maker Apple. Cloud computing is fueling Microsoft's revenue with the help of its ubiquitous Office software, now hosted online and no longer released in boxes of floppy disks or CDs. "It's not a very sexy infrastructure, but it's a very valuable one," Goldman said of Microsoft's data centers and software at the foundation of its cloud-computing platform. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are Microsoft's cloud-computing rivals. - 'Micro-Soft' - Clouds were the stuff of weather forecasts rather than computing when Bill Gates and childhood friend Paul Allen founded what was first called "Micro-Soft" in 1975. They launched the MS-DOS operating system that became known as "Windows" and went on to run most of the world's computers. Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel and PowerPoint became standard business tools, even fending off free Google Docs software. "Microsoft had a lot of businesses that were weaker and challenged -- the perfect example is Office," Goldman said. "That Office is still such a meaningful business for them says something about the way they were able to innovate." Current chief executive Satya Nadella championed a Microsoft shift to making its software available on just about any device as subscription services hosted in the cloud. The move likely saved Microsoft from seeing free services like Google Docs reduce their market share to zero, the analyst said. - 'Achilles heel' - Microsoft remains in the shadow of other US tech giants when it comes to offerings such as social networks, smartphones and the AI-infused digital assistants that have become woven into people's lives, but it is not for lack of effort. Microsoft introduced Xbox video game consoles in 2001, steadily building up its stable of studios, making the blockbuster buy of Activision Blizzard two years ago and adding an online subscription service for players. And despite its launch of the Bing search engine in 2009, Google still dominates that market. Microsoft in 2016 bought career-focused social network LinkedIn, which has seen steady growth. But it still lacks the reach of Meta's Facebook or Instagram, or the influence of Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter). Microsoft is among those in the running to buy TikTok, which faces a ban in the United States if not sold by China-based ByteDance. While Apple and Google have excelled at making it easy or even fun for users to engage with products, that has been an "Achilles heel" for Microsoft, according to Goldman. "It's never been a strong suit of theirs," the analyst said. - Mobile miss - Known for a focus on sales rather than innovation, Steve Ballmer, who followed Gates as chief of Microsoft from 2000 to 2013, has been faulted for missing the shift to smartphones and other mobile computing devices. His successor, Nadella, took over with a vow to make Microsoft a "mobile-first, cloud-first" company and Microsoft has since invested heavily in AI, taking a stake in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and building the technology into offerings including Bing, though to little avail. - Behind in AI? - Independent analyst Jack Gold believes that despite those investments and efforts, Microsoft lags in AI because it lacks its own chips or foundation model. "They are not as advanced in that as AWS and Google, so they're still playing a little bit of catchup in that space," Gold said of Microsoft. Google Cloud's revenue growth is on pace to overtake Microsoft's Azure for second place in the market in two years, the analyst said. juj-gc/arp/bbk/mlm
