History of the Microsoft Corporation

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Microsoft, one of the largest corporations in the world today, employs over 93,000 people and is a public, multinational company that manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computers and is most widely known for its Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft not only markets computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and the Microsoft Natural keyboard, but it also manufactures and sells home entertainment products including, the Xbox, Xbox 360, and Zune. It also holds assets in other markets including the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company was founded in 1975 by William Henry Gates III -- currently the chairman of Microsoft and the wealthiest man in the world -- when he called the makers of a new microcomputer, MITS, and asked to demonstrate the BASIC programming language for the system. After the demonstration, MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC so Bill Gates left Harvard University, moved to where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft in ...

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