Microsoft @ 50: 10 key things to know about the Redmond-based IT giant

Exactly a 50 years ago, Bill Gates (aka William Henry Gates III), dropped out of Hardwa joined hands with his childhood friend Paul Allen to set up Microsoft . It has grown so big that the company's market value (around $2.8 trillion) is bigger than Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of several countries.

As the Redmond-based technology major celebrates its 50th anniversary, here are 10 major milestones Microsoft has achieved so far.

. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800 personal computer.

It was Allen who suggested the name 'Micro-Soft', short for micro-computer software.

. In 1981, Microsoft reportedly purchased the rights to QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) and rebranded it as MS-DOS,. It later licensed it to IBM for their first personal computers, and this secured Microsoft a lead in software technology and it continues to dominant the PC industry.

. On November 20,1985, Microsoft unveiled the Windows 1.0 as a graphical extension to MS-DOS. Like Google's Android for phones, Windows OS instantly became an instant hit and it continues to be the most widely used operating system for computers worldwide.

. Four years after launching Windows OS, Microsoft introduced Office suite of productivity apps in 1989 for Apple's Mac computers and in the following year (1990) introduced another version for Windows PCs.

The Office suite comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more. It is by far the best among its competitors, and it is why the Microsoft Office is the most used productivity tool on PCs, tablets and phones worldwide. All the Office tools are now integrated OpenAI's ChatGPT tech to deliver even better user experience.

. After dominating the software market, Microsoft entered the gaming industry in 2001 with the launch of the Xbox. It continues to give stiff challenge top players Sony and Nintendo. The Xbox 360 (2005) and newer models have gained huge traction in gaming industry thanks to big collection of exclusive gaming titles. In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a whopping $69 billion.

. In October 2012, Microsoft announced its first-ever Surface series of Windows OS-powered tablets. It then expanded to laptops and 2-in-1 hybrid devices.

. Under CEO Satya Nadella (2014–present), Microsoft was one of the few major companies to recognise potential of cloud computing with Azure.

It is now the second leading cloud platform with Amazon Web Services (AWS) at the top.

. Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016 and GitHub for $7.5 billion in 2018. Unlike the Nokia, the bet paid off for the company to significantly expand its influence in professional networking and software development.

. In 2019, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. It got a solid lead over all the competitors and continues to dominate the market. It has integrated all of its productivity tools with ChatGPT, such as Office suite applications and Bing search engine heavily invested in artificial intelligence, including a multi-billion-dollar partnership with OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) to integrate AI into products like Bing and Office 365.

. Microsoft earlier this year, on February 19, 2025 unveiled Majorana 1 silicon, the world’s first quantum chipset. It is powered by a Topological Core, which is made of an all-new class of materials developed by Microsoft. The company expects to bring a consumer version to run quantum computers in coming years.

. Besides achieving great things with Windows OS, Microsoft Office, Azure cloud computing, Gen AI initiatives, Xbox and Surface devices, Microsoft has done some blunders too.

One includes the missed opportunity to turn Windows Phone a worthy competitor to Android mobiles and Apple iPhones. It had even acquired Nokia, but failed to sustain the business for lack of bringing new innovative features.

Also, Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion to offer real-time video and voice communications. However, it hasn't gained much traction compared to others. It is soon be history next month and Microsoft Teams will be go-to- video conferencing app on Windows devices.

And, despite the Copilot integration with Edge, Microsoft has yet crack the winning formula to increase its share in the search engine market.

For now, Google continues to dominate the scene for now, but Microsoft-backed OpenAI's latest product SearchGPT has the potential unsettle its position in the coming years.