Microsoft turns 50 - in pictures
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1975: Bill Gates, right, and Paul Allen after founding Microsoft on April 4. Photo: Microsoft -
The original Microsoft logo, used between 1975 and 1980. Photo: Microsoft -
An early Microsoft office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company was based there from 1976 to 1978, before relocating to Washington State. Photo: Microsoft -
December 7, 1978: Microsoft’s founding employees gather for a portrait before the company's move from Albuquerque to Redmond, Washington. Front row, from left: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood and Paul Allen. Middle row: Bob O’Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald and Gordon Letwin. Back row: Steve Wood, Bob Wallace and Jim Lane. (Not pictured: Miriam Lubow.) Photo: Microsoft -
March 13, 1986: Microsoft goes public with an IPO of 3,095,000 shares of common stock, at an offer price of $21. Photo: Microsoft -
February 28, 1988: Microsoft Canada employees outside the Toronto office. Photo: Microsoft -
August 1989: Microsoft’s Redmond campus. Photo: Microsoft -
June 19, 1989: The first version of Microsoft Office hits the market. Photo: Microsoft -
Spring 1990: Windows 3.0 is released and includes the free game Solitaire for the first time. Photo: Microsoft -
1992: A typical Microsoft office, pictured for a staff recruitment brochure. Photo: Microsoft -
August 24, 1995: Bill Gates announces Windows 95 at a press event in Redmond. Photo: Microsoft -
September 18, 1996: Microsoft employees Nathan Myhrvold and Mike Murray push Christine Betts and Moshe Dunie in the dryland yacht races at the Microsoft Giving Games. Photo: Micosoft -
January 13, 2000: Steve Ballmer, right, becomes Microsoft’s second chief executive. He succeeds Bill Gates, who hired him in 1980 as the company’s business manager. Photo: Microsoft -
October 24, 2001: Shoppers buy Microsoft's new operating system Windows XP at the CompUSA store in New York. Reuters -
November 14, 2001: Bill Gates plays a game with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to launch the Xbox, in New York. Reuters -
October 27, 2008: Chief software architect Ray Ozzie announces Windows Azure, Microsoft’s first foray into cloud computing, at the company’s Professional Developers Conference. Photo: Microsoft -
October 26, 2012: Microsoft's first in-house designed PC, Surface, is released. Photo: Microsoft -
February 2014: Bill Gates, left, with Steve Ballmer as he passes the baton to current chief executive Satya Nadella. Photo: Microsoft -
October 5, 2017: Microsoft launches its TechSpark national civic programme aimed at fostering greater economic opportunity and job creation in rural and smaller metropolitan communities. Microsoft president Brad Smith is pictured in the second row, second left. Photo: Microsoft -
May 16, 2018: The launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller makes gaming accessible to players with disabilities. Photo: Microsoft -
October 5, 2021: Windows 11 becomes available. Photo: Microsoft -
February 7, 2023: Microsoft announces a new AI-powered version of the Bing search engine and Edge browser. Photo: Microsoft -
September 21, 2023: Divya Kumar, general manager of search and AI marketing, speaks onstage in New York City as Microsoft announces Copilot, an AI-powered tool designed to be an everyday companion. Photo: Microsoft -
September 10, 2024: Microsoft creates the first platform for reliable quantum computing, announcing it has the most reliable logical qubits on record. Photo: Microsoft -
October 23, 2024: Mr Nadella showcases the power of artificial intelligence for Italy’s growth at the Microsoft AI Tour in Rome. Photo: Microsoft
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