"Microsoft's foundational years were built on a single insight: Personal computers were coming for everyone, and they would all need software. In 1981, IBM introduced its landmark personal computer bundled with a suite of Microsoft products. That deal didn't just put Microsoft on the map-it made the company the invisible infrastructure of the entire PC industry."
"In November 1985, the company launched Windows, a graphical operating environment layered on top of its operating system MS-DOS, which is primitive by modern standards, but radical for its time. The same year, Microsoft debuted its first retail version of the Excel that would eventually become the backbone of financial work across the globe."
"Exactly 40 years ago today, Microsoft made its debut on March 13, 1989, on the Nasdaq stock exchange at $21 per share. By the end of that first trading day, shares had surged"
Microsoft's origin traces to January 1975 when Bill Gates and Paul Allen recognized that personal computers needed software after seeing the Altair 8800 on Popular Electronics. Founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the company became the invisible infrastructure of the PC industry through a pivotal 1981 deal with IBM. Microsoft's foundational insight—that personal computers would become ubiquitous and require software—proved prescient. The 1985 launch of Windows, a graphical operating environment, and Excel revolutionized computing. Microsoft went public on March 13, 1986, at $21 per share on Nasdaq, marking the beginning of unprecedented investor returns and establishing the company as a cornerstone of modern technology.
#microsoft-history #software-industry #personal-computers #ipo-and-stock-market #technology-innovation
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