History of Microsoft

 

Important Dates

Important Dates

Date
Event

1975
Microsoft founded

Jan. 1, 1979
Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington

June 25, 1981
Microsoft incorporates

Aug. 12, 1981
IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0

Feb. 26, 1986
Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, Washington

March 13, 1986
Microsoft stock goes public

Aug. 1, 1989
Microsoft introduces earliest version of Office suite of productivity applications

May 22, 1990
Microsoft launches Windows 3.0

Aug. 24, 1995
Microsoft launches Windows 95

Dec. 7, 1995
Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's commitment to supporting and enhancing the Internet

June 25, 1998
Microsoft launches Windows 98

Jan. 13, 2000
Steve Ballmer named president and chief executive officer for Microsoft

Feb. 17, 2000
Microsoft launches Windows 2000

June 22, 2000
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer outline Microsoft's .NET strategy for Web services

May 31, 2001
Microsoft launches Office XP

Oct. 25, 2001
Microsoft launches Windows XP

Nov. 15, 2001
Microsoft launches Xbox

Jan. 15, 2002
Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's commitment to Trustworthy Computing

Nov. 7, 2002
Microsoft and partners launch Tablet PC

Jan. 16, 2003
Microsoft declares annual dividend

April 24, 2003
Microsoft launches Windows Server 2003

Oct. 21, 2003
Microsoft launches Microsoft Office System

July 20, 2004
Microsoft announces plans to return up to $75 billion to shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks

Nov. 22, 2005
Microsoft launches Xbox 360

July 20, 2006
Microsoft announces a new US$20 billion tender offer and authorizes an additional share-repurchase program of up to $20 billion over five years

Jan. 30, 2007
Microsoft launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System to consumers worldwide

Feb. 27, 2008
Microsoft launches Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008

June 27, 2008
Bill Gates transitions from his day-to-day role at Microsoft to spend more time on his work at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

June 3, 2009
Microsoft launches Bing decision engine

Oct. 22, 2009
Microsoft launches Windows 7

June 15, 2010
Microsoft launches general availability of Office 2010

Nov. 4, 2010
Microsoft launches Kinect for Xbox 360

Nov. 10, 2010
Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7

Nov. 17, 2010
Microsoft announces availability of Microsoft Lync

June 28, 2011
Microsoft launches Office 365

Oct. 13, 2011
Microsoft closes its acquisition of Skype