A Brief History of Microsoft

Company
Microsoft is an American multinational computer technology corporation whose
history started 4th April 1975. Formed by Harvard College dropout, Bill Gates and his
childhood friend Paul Allen, Microsoft has now become the biggest software
company. It is also one of the most valuable companies in the world.

So how did Microsoft become so successful?

Microsoft is engaged in developing, licensing and supporting a range of software
products and services catering to different requirements. In 2000 Steve Ballmer was
appointed the new CEO of Microsoft. Bill Gates had met Steve Ballmer at Harvard
University before he left. Although there was some concern over Ballmer’s ability,
Microsoft retained its top spot in both business and personal computer markets.
Microsoft’s primary strengths and most of its profits were obtained from the business
side. Although the company recognised that they had a major presence in consumer
markets as technology advances.

The successful Altair deal back in January 1975 inspired Bill Gates and Paul Allen to
form Microsoft. Their revenues for 1975 totalled $16,000. Microsoft’s big break was
in 1980, when a partnership was formed with IBM which resulted in Microsoft
providing a crucial operating system, DOS, for IBM PCs. This meant that for every
IBM Computer sold a royalty was paid to Microsoft. In 1990, Gates showed the
future plan for Microsoft with the introduction of Windows 3.0. 60 million copies of
Windows had been sold now which effectively made Microsoft the sole keeper of the
PC software standard.

Microsoft before 1990 was predominantly a supplier to the hardware manufacturers.

That was their target market. As technology advanced and personal computers
become so popular, the bulk of Microsoft’s revenue was generated from sales to
consumers. It was the first software company to reach $1 Billion in revenues. As
more and more versions of Microsoft Windows were launched, Microsoft captured a
higher market share the world’s PC (around 90%).

Project Longhorn in 2001, saw many of Microsoft’s previous operating systems being
replaced starting with Vista. Vista was released to the general public in 2007 and it
was the new operating system. There was many Vista options available catering for
different consumers; Home (Basic or Premium), Ultimate, Business and many more.
Microsoft’s core customers, the corporate market preferred Windows XP as the
operating system was fast, stable and secure.
Windows 7 was released in 2009 to replace Vista which secured Microsoft’s lead in
the software market. This was followed by the release of Windows 8 in Oct 2012
which included major changes to its OS platform and user interface to improve user
experience on tablets. Since then Windows 8.1 has been released (October 2013)
which contained more improvements.
Microsoft also entered the gaming and mobile phone market and was successful in
capturing a large market share. The Windows Mobile OS is used by numerous
sellers including HTC, LG, Samsung and LG. In 2001 Microsoft released the Xbox
followed by Xbox Live in 2002. Both releases were very successful which placed
Microsoft second in the video gaming market. The Xbox 360, released in 2005 was a
very powerful gaming console while facing strong competition. Microsoft had to cut
the prices of their gaming consoles to gain a higher market share due to competition.
This was a successful move; the Xbox 360 was the most used game console in
American homes.

Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 Billion; this was the largest acquisition in
Microsoft’s history. Microsoft acquired Skype to compete with Apple’s Facetime and
Google’s Voice. Microsoft planned to add Skype to its products such as Outlook,
Xbox and Windows smartphones.

Microsoft has also recently moved into cloud computing with Windows Azure
platform which was announced in 2008. The Windows Azure platform lets
consumers build computing infrastructure in the “cloud” and offer it to its users. In
2011, Office 365, a cloud version of Office business software suite was released
which included applications such as Word and Excel.

Another popular product, Microsoft’s SQL Server 2012, featured many

enhancements to previous versions. This included Always On which provided
options to improve the database availability and easy cloud set up and compatibility.
Features also included performance and programmability
enhancements. dsp provide support for all versions and features of Microsoft SQL
Servers, across a wide variety of windows platforms.

By Jonathan Cowling | Marketing

https://www.dsp.co.uk/a-brief-history-of-microsoft-the-worlds-biggest-software-company/
A brief history of Microsoft Office
Written by Aaron Axline

This month, Microsoft is celebrating the 2 anniversary of the debut of its

immensely popular office productivity suite, Microsoft Office. The core
programs that made up the first version of Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
existed as separate applications as far back as the early 1980s. It wasn’t until
1989, however, that Microsoft bundled these programs together into the product
called Microsoft Office 1.0 (for Macintosh, that is; the first Windows version
would follow a year later).

The first version of Microsoft Office,

created for Apple's Mac in 1989.
Microsoft would eventually drop the
article "the" from its product name,
similar to how The Pink Floyd eventually
became Pink Floyd.

When MS Office for Windows was released in 1990, its chief competitors were
both industry giants: WordPerfect (for word processing), and Lotus 1-2-3 (for
spreadsheets). Both of these products already had dominant market positions
when Microsoft Office was launched.

Microsoft Office quickly gained on the competition, however — businesses

liked the idea of having their primary workstation apps come from a single
software company, which hinted at greater integration between critical
applications. More to the point, many of these businesses were using PCs
powered by Microsoft Windows (running over MS-DOS), giving Microsoft
Office even more perceived integration sparkle.

It also helped that Office was friendlier to the growing number of mouse-centric
PC users of the early 1990s. The clickability factor made it more appealing than
other programs, such as WordPerfect, which were often heavily keyboard-
driven.

Companies also liked the idea of dealing with a single software vendor, which
provided simpler software licensing and support contracts. This convenient
arrangement would generate billions of dollars in Office-related revenue for
Microsoft over the next two decades, and would effectively bury Lotus 1-2-3,
WordPerfect and all other comers.

Microsoft Office expanded from the original “Big Three” apps as new versions
of the suite were released. A basic e-mail client, Microsoft Mail, was added not
long after the debut of Office 1.0. Microsoft Access, a simple but powerful
database management system, made its debut in 1993 as part of Office
Professional 3.0.

Other Office apps were developed and added to the Office bundle over the
years, or were made available as add-ons:

● Outlook, a beefed up personal information manager and e-mail client

● OneNote, a virtual notebook system
● Publisher, a mid-level desktop publishing app
● Project, a project management program
● Visio, a flowchart and diagram creation app

Today, Microsoft Office is reported to have more than a billion users

worldwide. Office is available through retail, traditional volume licensing for
businesses, and as Software as a Service (SaaS) in the form of Office 365.
Microsoft is still actively developing versions of Office for the Mac. And, in
March 2014, a version of Office for Apple’s iPad was launched.
Microsoft Office has been a part of Microsoft’s training and certification
program for many years. The following sections describe the different
certifications available for Microsoft Office applications.

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)

The first level of Office certification is the Microsoft Office Specialist. This
designation can be earned by passing a single certification exam for any of the
following Office programs (applicable product versions appear in parentheses):

● Word (2013; 2010; 2007)

● Excel (2013; 2010; 2007)
● PowerPoint (2013; 2010; 2007)
● Outlook (2013; 2010; 2007)
● Access (2013; 2010; 2007)
● SharePoint (2013; 2010)
● OneNote (2013; 2010)

There is also an MOS certification specifically for Office 365, Microsoft’s

“Software as a Service” version of Office. MOS: Office 365 is covered by
Exam 77-891.

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Expert

This advanced certification is only offered for Word and Excel. To earn MOS
Expert certification on Word 2013 or Excel 2013, candidates must take and pass
two certification exams. The other applicable versions (2010 and 2007) require
passing only one exam.

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Master

The MOS Master is the most advanced level of Office certification. It is

currently offered for the following Office applications (applicable product
versions appear in parentheses):
● Word (2013; 2010; 2007)
● Excel (2013; 2010; 2007)
● PowerPoint (2013; 2010; 2007)
● Outlook (2013; 2010; 2007)
● Access (2013; 2010; 2007)
● SharePoint (2013; 2010)
● OneNote (2013)

To earn MOS Master certification on Word 2013 or Excel 2013, candidates

must take and pass two certification exams. All other applications only require
passing one exam to earn MOS Master certification.

Retired Microsoft Office Certifications

Although the Microsoft Learning website lists two other Office-related

certifications, these two designations have officially been retired. These retired
certifications are:

● Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) for Office 365

● Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP) for Office
365

Summary
There’s no question that the release of Microsoft Office 25 years ago changed
the landscape of business productivity, and eventually gave millions of home
users access to powerful software that innovated word processing and
spreadsheet use. And, over the last two decades, MOS certification has provided
knowledge workers with an industry-recognized accreditation that validates
their skills, and gives them an advantage in a competitive job market.

http://www.gocertify.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-microsoft-office
Best free office software 2019: alternatives
and competitors
Zoho Workplace
A genuinely exciting alternative to Google Docs

Open365
More than just an office suite online

SoftMaker FreeOffice
A free version of a premium suite, with most pro features intact

Polaris Office
A cross-platform office suite that keeps your work in the cloud

WPS Office Free

A feature-packed free office suite for Windows, Linux and Android

Microsoft Office Online

Microsoft is taking the fight to Google with slimmed-down versions of
all its usual applications, available to use free online

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides

For working across platforms and sharing documents, Google's
excellent collection of online office apps is hard to beat

LibreOffice
Everything you could want from an office suite, fully compatible with
Microsoft formats and totally free to use – even commercially

https://www.techradar.com/best/free-office-software
 The history of Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word, known also just as ‘Word’ is word processing

software and a flagship product of Microsoft.
It is an integral part of the Microsoft Office suite of products and
is the most widely-used word processor in the world. In fact, it’s
estimated that Word is running on more than a billion devices
worldwide.
First released in 1983 under a different name, Word celebrated
its 25th birthday in 2018. Its popularity lies in its ease of use,
plus the fact that it can be used on different operating systems
including Macintosh and of course, Windows.
Word can be bought as a standalone product or as a part of
Microsoft Office, which also includes programs like Excel and
PowerPoint.
So, just how did Word come to dominate the market during the
last 25 years and become the most-used word processing
software in the world? And what does the future hold for the
product?
Rise to popularity
The first ever version of Microsoft Word – Word 1.0 – was
launched in October 1983 and developed by former Xerox
programmers, Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie. The two
were hired by Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, in
1981. At this time, Word was called Multi-Tool Word. It was
designed for use on computers that ran the UNIX operating
system.
Word was a WYSIWYG (‘what you see is what you get’)
program. This meant that however a document looked on
screen was how it would look once printed. Word let users
create, save and print text documents, but it wasn’t an instant
success; perhaps because it was competing with the hugely
popular WordPerfect and WordStar word processing programs.
Version 2.0 was released in 1985, with added features
including spellcheck and word count.
Over the following years, Microsoft re-coded the program a
number of times so that it could work on different operating
systems, including DOS (disk operating system) and
Macintosh. The name was also changed to the shorter and
more memorable ‘Word’.
In 1993, Microsoft released Word 6.0 which worked on
Macintosh, Windows and DOS. Word 6.0 was the last version
created to run on DOS and the last version to be identified by
version number; subsequent versions were named after their
year of release.
Since then, Microsoft has released a new version of Word at
least every two years. The most recent release was at the end
of 2018, with Word 2019, part of Office 365.
The future of Word
Today, Word and the whole Office suite is highly-integrated and
runs on OS X, Android and iOS, as well as Windows. Satya
Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has said that Office is the
company’s most important API (application programming
interface).
The latest version of the software is Word 2019. Like its
spreadsheet counterpart, Excel, Word has been given a
number of updates to improve its functionality and ensure it
keeps up with the changing computing times.
Recent new features of Word include:
 Translator – Word can now translate words and sentences
into other languages using the Microsoft Translator tool,
which sits under the Review tab. This function has also been
added to Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint.
 Learning Tools – this feature helps make your documents
easy to comprehend and helps with reading fluency. Use it to
change column width for improved focus, page colour so the
page can be scanned with less eye strain, and show breaks
between syllables to improve word recognition and
pronunciation. You can also use this tool to read your
document aloud to you.
 Digital pen – if you have a touch-enabled device, the latest
version of Word (and other Office products) lets you draw
 with your finger, a mouse or a digital pen for easy
annotation and note-taking.
 Icons and SVGs (scalable vector graphics) – Word now has a
library of icons and 3D images which can be inserted into
documents to make them more visually appealing and to
make an impact. Users can change colours and apply effects.

https://core.co.uk/blog/history-microsoft-word/
 111 Description
Ctrl+0 Toggles 6pts of spacing before a paragraph.
Ctrl+A Select all contents of the page.
Ctrl+B Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl+C Copy selected text.
Ctrl+D Open the font preferences window.
Ctrl+E Aligns the line or selected text to the center of the screen.
Ctrl+F Open find box.
Ctrl+I Italic highlighted selection.
Ctrl+J Aligns the selected text or line to justify the screen.
Ctrl+K Insert a hyperlink.
Ctrl+L Aligns the line or selected text to the left of the screen.
Ctrl+M Indent the paragraph.
Ctrl+N Opens new, blank document window.
Ctrl+O Opens the dialog box or page for selecting a file to open.
Ctrl+P Open the print window.
Ctrl+R Aligns the line or selected text to the right of the screen.
Ctrl+S Save the open document. Like Shift+F12.
Alt, F, A Save the document under a different file name.
Ctrl+T Create a hanging indent.
Ctrl+U Underline the selected text.
Ctrl+V Paste.
Ctrl+W Close the currently open document.
Ctrl+X Cut selected text.
Ctrl+Y Redo the last action performed.
Ctrl+Z Undo last action.
Ctrl+Shift+L Quickly create a bullet point.
Ctrl+Shift+F Change the font.
Ctrl+Shift+> Increase selected font +1pts up to 12pt and then increase

font +2pts.
Ctrl+] Increase selected font +1pts.
Ctrl+Shift+< Decrease selected font -1pts if 12pt or lower; if above 12,
decreases font by +2pt.
Ctrl+[ Decrease selected font -1pts.
Ctrl+/+c Insert a cent sign (¢).
Ctrl+'+<char> Insert a character with an accent (acute) mark, where
<char>
is the character you want. For example, if you wanted an
accented é you would use Ctrl+'+e as your shortcut key.
To reverse the accent mark, use the opposite accent
mark,
often found on the tilde key.
Ctrl+Shift+* View or hide non printing characters.
Ctrl+<left arrow> Moves one word to the left.
Ctrl+<right arrow> Moves one word to the right.
Ctrl+<up arrow> Moves to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
Ctrl+<down arrow> Moves to the end of the paragraph.
Ctrl+Del Deletes word to right of cursor.
Ctrl+Backspace Deletes word to left of cursor.
Ctrl+End Moves the cursor to the end of the document.
Ctrl+Home Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document.
Ctrl+Spacebar Reset highlighted text to the default font.
Ctrl+1 Single-space lines.
Ctrl+2 Double-space lines.
Ctrl+5 1.5-line spacing.
Ctrl+Alt+1 Changes text to heading 1.
Ctrl+Alt+2 Changes text to heading 2.
Ctrl+Alt+3 Changes text to heading 3.
Alt+Ctrl+F2 Open new document.
Ctrl+F1 Open the Task Pane.
Ctrl+F2 Display the print preview.
Ctrl+Shift+> Increases the selected text size by one font size.
Ctrl+Shift+< Decreases the selected text size by one font size.
Ctrl+Shift+F6 Switches to another open Microsoft Word document.
Ctrl+Shift+F12 Prints the document.
F1 Open help.
F4 Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+).
F5 Open the Find, Replace, and Go To window in Microsoft
Word.
F7 Spellcheck and grammar check selected text or document.
F12 Save As.
Shift+F3 Change the text in Microsoft Word
from uppercase to lowercase
or a capital letter at the beginning of every word.
Shift+F7 Runs a Thesaurus check on the selected word.
Shift+F12 Save the open document. Like Ctrl+S.
Shift+Enter Create a soft break instead of a new paragraph.
Shift+Insert Paste.
Shift+Alt+D Insert the current date.
Shift+Alt+T Insert the current time.

https://www.computerhope.com/shortcut/word.htm