[Amazing] 25 Interesting Facts About The History Of Microsoft And Its Rise To Domination
When it comes to large tech companies, there are few that have forged a reputation for themselves that is more ubiquitous than that of Microsoft. It’s everywhere. From mobile phones to video games to almost every personal computer in the world that doesn’t have “mac” in the name. There are very few people who don’t know or haven’t heard the name “Microsoft”. And while everybody knows it’s a computer company started by Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, few people know more than that. There is actually quite a bit of interesting history to this larger-than-life company. For example, do you know where the name actually came from? It’s supposed to be a portmanteau of “microcomputer” and “software”. It was started in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen and today it is the world’s largest software maker in terms of revenue. So, whether you are a fan of Microsoft products or you avoid them like the plague, it’s hard to get away from the effect that Bill Gates and his crew have had on the world as we know it. These are 25 interesting facts about the history of Microsoft and its rise to domination.
Featured Image: C_osett via Flickr
The generic user outline used in Microsoft Outlook 2010 was actually Bill Gate's mugshot from when he got caught driving without a license
Source: wikipedia, Image: 9gag
Charles Simonyi, the inventor of Microsoft Office, has paid nearly $30 million to visit the International Space Station...twice!
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
A guy named Bob was the first to buy the domain name "windows2000.com". Ironically, Microsoft owned "bob.com" so they worked out a deal.
Source: wikipedia
For every Android device, Microsoft gets about $8 in royalties. In 2013 that worked out to nearly $3.5 billion
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay
Microsoft intentionally made msn.com look wrong on Opera browsers in order to push people to use Internet Explorer.
Source: wikipedia
Microsoft Flight Simulator is the company's longest running product. It precedes Windows by 3 years!
Source: wikipedia, Image: Nicholas Volodimer via Flickr
In 1997, Microsoft actually gave Apple $150 million in a deal that has been misconstrued as altruistic (it wasn't, but it is still funny that Microsoft paid its competitor so much)
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
One of the reasons Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows was to familiarize users with drag and drop interfaces. This was something most people still had no experience with.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
In 2001, some Microsoft employees continued to work right through an earthquake in spite of alarms. It wasn't until they received an on-screen warning to leave the building that they left their workstations
Source: newscientist.com
The original Halo video game was a third person shooter for the Mac. At least until Microsoft bought Bungie and released the game on Xbox instead.
3 billionaires and more than 12,000 millionaires owe their fortunes to Microsoft
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay
Microsoft Encarta was originally codenamed Gandalf. It's demise has been largely attributed to Wikipedia
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay
One of Microsoft's most famous interview questions was "Why are manhole covers round?"
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
In order to acknowledge the transition from the print age to the digital age, Microsoft changed its official font from Times New Roman to Calibri 11
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
In 1995, Windows95 was the second most installed piece of software. The video game DOOM was first.
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay
In 2104, Microsoft and the NFL struck a deal to use Microsoft Surface as the league's official tablet. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the announcers kept calling them iPads.
Source: wikipedia
It was in 1998 that the Microsoft DirectX team came up with an idea for a new game console and called it the directXbox. It was then shortened to Xbox.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
The first mention of Microsoft was in a letter Bill Gates wrote to his co-founder Paul Allen. In the letter, Bill hyphenated the company name (Micro-soft).
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay
The average "Softie" (Microsoft employee) is a 38 year old male
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
Bill Gates bought the Da Vinci Codex for $30 million. He then had the pages scanned and released as screen savers for Windows 95
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
A teenager (Mike Rowe) once registered the domain mikerowesoft.com for his web business. He ended up getting sued by Microsoft.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
DirectX was originally codenamed the "Manhattan Project" because Microsoft was trying to end Japan's domination of the video game industry. Yes, somebody at Microsoft had a very dark sense of humor.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
The average starting salary for a Microsoft developer is $106,000
Source: mashable.com, Image: wikipedia
Microsoft has over 10,000 patents which makes it one of the top 5 patent holders in the United States
Source: wikipedia, Image: thebluediamondgallery.com
When Internet Explorer 4 was first released, some drunk Microsoft employees planted a huge Internet Explorer logo in the fountain outside of Netscape's headquarters
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia
