Almost all of us are familiar with Tech Company Microsoft. Or we can say the foundation of all technology companies that we see today. For those who don’t know Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Year 2018 was the best year for Microsoft as the company crossed the worth of over $1 trillion and became the most valuable company in the world alongside with Apple and Google. The headquarters of Microsoft is located in Redmond, Washington. We have gathered some interesting facts about Microsoft.

Read On To Know Super Microsoft Facts and History

The Company Got Its Name before Being Registered

Microsoft officially got registered in 1976 in New Mexico. The company was named by Bill Gates. He used the word micro-soft in his letter to Paul Allen in 1975. At that time the company was not established. The word Microsoft is a portmanteau. The word “micro” is taken from microcomputers and the word “soft” from software. Hyphen was removed from the name at the time of registration back in 1976.

Microsoft Windows 1.0

Microsoft windows 1.0 was released in November 20, 1985. Exactly 10 years after the establishment of the company. Windows 1.0 was a 16-bit operating system.

Major Business Deal

Microsoft’s first ever deal was with IBM. The deal was based on sharing the Microsoft product, PC DOS operating system. The deal signed in 1980 between both companies worth $50,000.

First Customer

MITS was the first customer of Microsoft. Gates and Allen provided MITS the very first computer language program called BASIC.

Logo

From the beginning, the company changed its logo after every few years according to the demand of Tec world. Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen both were smart to use a programming language to make the first logo. The logo continues to change. Finally in 2012, a brand new logo was unveiled which contained a four colored squared with the word Microsoft. Segoe font was used for word Microsoft in the logo.

Worth of Single Property of Bill Gates

Probably you don’t know about Bill Gates’s Xanadu 2.0 property. The property had a worth of $123 million few years back.

Real Name of Bill Gates

Wait, we are not talking about his surname. The first name Bill is not present in his actual name that is William Henry Gates III.

Bill Gates Father wanted him to be a Lawyer

Gates belong to a wealthy family. His father William Henry Gates Sr. was a lawyer. Being a lawyer he wanted Bill Gates to be a lawyer. But Bill’s father and his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates didn’t force him after noticing his interest in computer.

MS Office was a huge Success

MS office was downloaded by more than 1.2 billion people. The product is really a great success for Microsoft because it is used in almost 140 countries. Available languages are 107.

Microsoft headquarters

The company’s headquarters was not always located in Redmond, Washington. Before 1986, the headquarters was located in New Mexico.

Current CEO of Microsoft

Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates both were classmate at Harvard. But Bill left university to establish Microsoft. Steve Ballmer completed his graduate and became the 24^th employee to join Microsoft. Current CEO of Microsoft is Satya Nadella. He succeeded Steve Ballmer in 2014.

Bill Gates Married to His Employee

Melinda Gates was general manager at Microsoft. Bill Gate married his employee Melinda in 1994.

Brian Eno composed the music for Windows 95

Famous musician Brian Eno composed the music for Windows 95. In 1994, some officials from Microsoft approached him to compose a piece of startup music for Windows 95. There was a requirement that the sound must be more than three seconds long. Brain Eno designed the music on Macintosh. The result was six seconds long Microsoft-sound.

XENIX was the first OS

Do you consider MS DOS as Microsoft’s first operating system? Actually, XENIX was the first OS launched by Microsoft. In 1970s, Bell Labs developed the UNIX operating system. After UNIX operating system got licensed from AT&T, the company developed the modified version of UNIX and named it as XENIX.

Moleskine

According to Panos Panay, Moleskine was a Microsoft product that was never launched. The product was a hybrid of a tablet and a laptop.

A Complain About MS Word

When word launched the auto-correct feature for the first time many people find it difficult to get used to it. Goldman Sachs wrote a complain letter to Microsoft that the auto-correct feature always convert the word “Goldman Sachs” to “Goddamn Sachs”.

Youngest Billionaire

Bill Gates became the youngest billionaire at the age of 31 in 1987.

First Smartwatch by Microsoft

Microsoft launched their first smartwatch in 1994. Timex helped the company in co-producing the watch. This smartwatch was water resistant but up to a specific limit. There were 150 datalinks in the watch. A PC with Windows 3.1 or more was required for the proper functioning of the smartwatch.

Company’s Tradition

Like other companies the tradition in Microsoft is for employees to bring 1 lb of M&Ms at the work anniversary. The tradition is not confined for the very first employment anniversary. Employees have to bring M&Ms on each anniversary.

Microsoft Art Collection

Really? Does Microsoft has something for art lovers? Though it is a technology based company but there are over 5,000 pieces of art at the Microsoft headquarters. The passion of collecting art pieces was started in 1987 and after few years around 180 buildings were occupied by art pieces.

Do you know the mission of Stephen Alvarez?

Stephen Alvarez is crazy about Microsoft smartphone. He claim that he will took pictures of all the Seven Wonders of the World by using the smartphone. Let’s see how long he will take to complete the mission.

Work Force in Microsoft

There are about 76 percent male members in the company which is more than in any other technology company. There are approximately 151,163 total count of members as of 2019.

Name of Windows Operating System

Bill Gates was going to name the windows operating system as “Interface Manager”. The marketing department found it quite boring and suggest the name “Windows”.

Xbox’s X Came from Software

Xbox is Microsoft owned video gaming product. The X in the Xbox came from the software Direct X. This windows software manage graphics in Xbox.

Cafeterias at Microsoft

If you are a visitor at Microsoft you will be served with free drinks and candies. There are over 35 cafeterias in Microsoft headquarters. These cafeterias offer free breakfast to the employees. Isn’t it a really lavish perk of being an employee at Microsoft?

MS Office was first launched on Macintosh

MS Office was launched in 1989. At that time Windows PC were not that popular. So because of the popularity MS Office was launched on Macintosh computers. The next year Windows operating system became compatible with MS Office.

Microsoft Executives Own Sports Teams

Many former members of Microsoft likes sports. Steve Ballmer own a professional sports team. Similarly Microsoft co-founder Allen owned two national level teams. One is National Basketball Association’s Portland Trailblazer and the other is Seattle Seahawks of National Football League.

Microsoft helped Apple

In 1997, Apple was struggling to make an impact on technology products. Microsoft helped the company by purchasing shares of $150 million.

Most Downloaded Software

Windows 95 was such an amazing piece of software that it became the most downloaded software after videogame DOOM.

Microsoft’s Revenue

The first revenue generated by the company was $16,000. But after four years the revenue jumped to $1 million.

Microsoft Workers Eat Tons of Fries

Yes! French fries is the food most loved by the employees. The cafeterias at main campus in Redmond, Washington receive almost 984,000 orders for French fries each year. Moreover, there are around 40,000 employees at the main campus. Well, this is too much.

2009 was not a good year for Microsoft

2009 was the first year in which company faced a drop in revenue.

Salary of a Software Engineer

Microsoft support top talent so the salary it give to its employees is quite an attractive amount. An average software engineer gets $106000 per year.

Bing Prediction about Football World Cup

Microsoft’s search engine Bing predicted that the 2014 football world cup final would be between Argentina and Germany. The prediction was 100 percent correct.

Android Devices didn’t Appeal Steve Ballmer

In 2011, former CEO of Microsoft gave a statement that android devices didn’t make him excited.

First Window Virus

In 1992, first window virus was coded into a program. This virus was named as WinVer 1.4. Similarly the first antivirus was Bernd Fix.

One of the Largest Patent Holder

Microsoft file at least 3,000 patents each year. It makes it one of the largest patent holder. There are more than 10,000 patents that the company hold.

Most Frequently asked question in interviews

If you are going to appear in an interview for job in Microsoft. Then prepare the question; “Why are manholes round?”

30 percent people still use Windows XP

Though the company removed support for Windows XP in 2014 but still around 30 percent people around the globe use it. Actually, the user friendly feature of the product caused many people to stick to it still.

Have you ever tried creating CON folder in Windows

Windows won’t allow you to create a folder in the name of CON. We know you will definitely going to try it. Right?

 Microsoft purchased many companies

Microsoft purchased over 200 companies and Nokia is one of them. The company purchased it for $8 billion in 2014.

Did you enjoy reading these Microsoft facts.