wpostServer: http://css.washingtonpost.com/wpost
Microsoft through the years As the company unveiled its new tablet and Windows version, here’s a look at Microsoft’s most memorable and innovative products.
Bill Gates
A Harvard dropout, Bill Gates started the company while he was in college, along with his childhood friend Paul Allen, in 1975. Gates has topped the Forbes 400 richest Americans list for 19 years in a row.
/
AP
Related Content
Microsoft's beginnings
The 11 people who helped start the company pose for this 1978 photo in Albuquerque, N.M. Top row, from left: Steve Wood, Bob Wallace and Jim Lane; second row, from left: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald and Gordon Letwin; and front row, from left: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood and Paul Allen.
/
Microsoft via AP
MS-DOS
This is an August 1981 photo of an IBM Personal Computer, which is outfitted with a monitor, printer and two disk drives. The IBM PC was the first to run Microsoft's 16-bit Disk Operating System, known as MS-DOS.
/
AP
Windows 1.0
Microsoft went public on March 13, 1986. Its stock was initially priced at $21 a share. By this time, Microsoft had released the first version of its new operating system, known as Windows 1.0.
Mark Lennihan
/
AP
Windows 2.0, 3.0 and Microsoft Office
In 1987, Microsoft released Windows 2.0, which boasted more memory and new desktop icons, and Microsoft Office followed two years later. In 1988, Microsoft became the world's largest software company based on sales. Windows 3.0, released in 1990, included 16 color graphics and games like Solitaire and Hearts, reflecting how computers were becoming a part of daily life.
Dave Thomson
/
AP
Windows 95
Bill Gates sits on stage during a video portion of the Windows 95 launch event on Aug. 24, 1995, on the company's campus in Redmond, Wash. Windows 95 sold 7 million copies in its first five weeks. In the same year, the first version of Internet Explorer, Microsoft's web browser, was released.
/
AP
MSN Hotmail
In 1997, Microsoft acquired e-mail service Hotmail for an estimated $400 million. MSN Hotmail has gone through several redesigns; its most current one called Outlook. At left, Microsoft staff dressed in butterfly outfits demonstrate software that allows users to download e-mail from Microsoft's MSN Hotmail service.
Naashon Zolk
/
AP
Windows 98 and Windows 2000
Bill Gates talks about the newly unveiled operating system Windows 98 in San Francisco on June 25, 1998. Windows 98’s tagline was “Works Better, Plays Better,” and it was the last version based on the original MS-DOS system. Windows 2000 followed two years later.
Paul Sakuma
/
AP
Tablet PC
Bill Gates looks on as Bert Keely displays a prototype tablet personal computer that used a pen and handwriting recognition in 2000. This was the first version of Microsoft's Tablet PC, which came with handwriting and voice recognition abilities.
Elaine Thompson
/
AP
Windows XP
On Oct. 25, 2001, Windows XP was released and went on to become one of Microsoft's biggest sellers. At left, a South Korean student looks into the package of Microsoft's Window XP.
Lee Jin-Man
/
AP
XBox
Microsoft entered the world of video games with its launch of the highly successful Xbox gaming system. Here, Bill Gates hands over the first Xbox video game system ever sold to Edward Glucksman of Keansburg, N.J., at the Toys "R" Us store in New York, just after midnight on Nov. 15, 2001.
Jeff Christensen
/
Microsoft
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 first went on sale in November at a launch party called Zero Hour, where gamers from around the world met in the Mojave Desert. Here, the next-generation video game machine is unveiled in Tokyo on May 13, 2005.
Itsuo Inouye
/
AP
Halo
The Halo video game series, exclusive to the Xbox, has grossed almost $2 billion in sales for Microsoft since its first version was released in 2001. This image shows Master Chief, the protagonist of Halo 3.
Microsoft
/
AP
Zune
The Zune, which is now discontinued, was Microsoft's unsuccessful attempt to compete with Apple's iPod. Here, a Microsoft music programmer uses an original version of the Zune on Oct. 2, 2007.
Ted S. Warren
/
AP
Windows Vista
Dancers scale the wall of a New York building to promote the launch of the Windows Vista operating system on Jan. 29, 2007, in New York. The operating system received negative reviews for privacy, security and performance issues.
Mark Lennihan
/
AP
Bing
With the launch of Bing in 2009, Microsoft entered the search engine market to compete with Google. It also announced a partnership with Yahoo that said it would power all searches on Yahoo's Web site.
Elaine Thompson
/
AP
Windows 7
Southwest Airlines employees dress up as Santa Claus as part of a promotional event for the Windows 7 launch. Microsoft said the operating system sold more than 90 million copies in its first six months.
Rex C. Curry
/
Microsoft via AP
Microsoft Store
Microsoft launched its first retail stores in Arizona and California in 2009, a competitive move against Apple. At left is the interior of a Microsoft store in San Diego.
Mike Blake
/
Reuters
Kinect for Xbox
Microsoft's Kinect, which was released in 2010 , recognizes users' gestures and voices so they can control on-screen avatars in racing, action and sports games by moving their bodies.
Damian Dovarganes
/
AP
Skype deal
Microsoft agreed to buy calling-service Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011. At left, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shakes hands with Skype CEO Tony Bates during a news conference on May 10, 2011, in San Francisco.
Justin Sullivan
/
Getty Images
Windows Phone
Nokia Oyj and Microsoft unveiled their first high-speed Windows Phone for AT&T, aiming to help both companies stage a comeback in the smartphone industry. At left, Steve Ballmer, right, greets host Ryan Seacrest at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
David Paul Morris
/
Bloomberg News
Xbox SmartGlass
SmartGlass is a companion app for Windows 8 PCs and mobile devices that lets you interact with video content and games on the Xbox 360. At left, a Microsoft executive demonstrates Xbox SmartGlass with a Nokia Lumia 900 and Samsung tablets.
Damian Dovarganes
/
AP
Windows 8
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaks before unveiling Surface, a tablet computer to compete with Apple's iPad at Hollywood's Milk Studios in Los Angeles on June 18, 2012.
Damian Dovarganes
/
AP
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft held a big party for itself in New York ahead of the U.S. launch of its Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet on Oct. 25, 2012.
Damian Dovarganes
/
AP
FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES
Photos of the day
Battle of Teutoburg Forest reenactment, Mars Curiosity rover drilling, massive tornado strikes Moore, Oklahoma and more.
Animal views
Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.
The Herndon Climb
The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Eye on entertainment
Rosario Dawson, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Bow Wow, Amy Poehler and more.
Ethiopia’s salt trail
For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...
???initialComments:true! pubdate:10/25/2012 15:13 EDT! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:11/8/12 2:13 EST! currentDate:5/21/13 8:0 EDT! allowComments:false! displayComments:true!
Section:/business/economy
Loading...
Comments