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Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation. The @
 


began on April 4, 1975, when it was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque.[1]
Its current best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the
Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Starting in 1980, Microsoft formed an important partnership with IBM that allowed them to
bundle Microsoft's operating system with computers that they sold, paying Microsoft a
royalty for every sale. In 1985, IBM requested that Microsoft write a new operating system
for their computers called OS/2; Microsoft wrote the operating system, but also continued to
sell their own alternative, which proved to be in direct competition with OS/2. Microsoft
Windows eventually overshadowed OS/2 in terms of sales. When Microsoft launched several
versions of Microsoft Windows in the 1990s, they had captured over 90% market share of the
world's personal computers.

The company has now become largely successful. As of 2008, Microsoft has a global annual
revenue of US$ 60.42 billion and nearly 90,000 employees in 105 countries. It develops,
manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing
devices.[2][3][4]

For the 2010 fiscal year, Microsoft had five product divisions: Windows & Windows Live
Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Division, and
Entertainment and Devices Division.




  

  

 


The company's Client division produces the flagship Windows OS line such as Windows 7; it
also produces the Windows Live family of products and services. Server and Tools produces
the server versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as a set of
development tools called Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Silverlight, a web application
framework, and Systems Management Server, a collection of tools providing remote-control
abilities, patch management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other
server products include: Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database management system,
Microsoft Exchange Server, for certain business-oriented e-mail and scheduling features,
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also produces computer games that run on Windows PCs and other systems including titles
such as Age of Empires, Halo and the Microsoft Flight Simulator series as well as a line of
reference works that include encyclopedias and atlases, under the name Encarta, and houses
the Macintosh Business Unit which produces Mac OS software including Microsoft Office
2008 for Mac. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division designs, markets, and
manufactures consumer electronics including the Xbox 360 game console, the handheld Zune
media player, and the television-based Internet appliance MSN TV. Microsoft also markets
personal computer hardware including mice, keyboards, and various game controllers such as
(oysticks and gamepads.

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Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft maga ines such as
c
 
  (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network
(MSDN). MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more
expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft
software.[51][52] In April 2004 Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users,
titled Channel9, that provides a wiki and an Internet forum.[53] Another community site that
provides daily videocasts and other services, On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006.[54] Free
technical support is traditionally provided through online Usenet newsgroups, and
CompuServe in the past, monitored by Microsoft employees; there can be several
newsgroups for a single product. Helpful people can be elected by peers or Microsoft
employees for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status, which entitles them to a
sort of special social status and possibilities for awards and other benefits.[55]

Noted for its internal lexicon, the expression eating our own dog food is used to describe
the policy of using prerelease and beta versions of products inside Microsoft in an effort to
test them in real-world situations. [56] This is usually shortened to (ust dog food and is
used as noun, verb, and ad(ective. Another bit of (argon, FYIFV or FYIV (Fuck You, I'm
[Fully] Vested), is used by an employee to indicate they are financially independent and can
avoid work anytime they wish.[57] The company is also known for its hiring process,
mimicked in other organi ations and dubbed the Microsoft interview, which is notorious
for off-the-wall questions such as Why is a manhole cover round?.[58]

Microsoft is an outspoken opponent of the cap on H1B visas, which allow companies in the
U.S. to employ certain foreign workers. Bill Gates claims the cap on H1B visas make it
difficult to hire employees for the company, stating I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap in
2005. [59] Critics of H1B visas argue that increasing (or eliminating) the cap only takes (obs
away from U.S. citi ens due to H1B workers working for lower s

Plans :Microsoft plans expansion in India IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. is planning a
number of moves to increase and potentially consolidate its development activities in India,
according to company officials and sources. Microsoft is increasing the number of employees
at its software development center in Hyderabad in the South India state of Andhra Pradesh
from 200 to about 500 by 2005, according to a company spokeswoman. This year, the
company is also increasing the head count at another center in Hyderabad that handles
application development for Microsoft's in-house IT requirements. That center currently
employs about 125. Details about the number being added this year weren't available, though
it is likely to be another 125, according to informed sources. We are taking both these
operations and combining them at a single facility at Manikonda near Hyderabad, said the
spokeswoman, who declined to be named. Microsoft announced last year that it had entered
into a memorandum of understanding with the government of Andhra Pradesh to acquire 42.5
acres of land for a facility in Manikonda. Construction of the facility is set for completion by
the end of this year. The company currently uses leased facilities. The news that Microsoft is
moving into its own large facility in Hyderabad sparked protest from the Seattle-based
Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech). Microsoft expanding in India
means that workers in Redmond will face direct competition from workers that make a
fraction of their wages, said Marcus Courtney, president of WashTech. This will only lower
wages and benefits for Microsoft U.S.-based employees. The work that Microsoft is getting
done in R&D in India can be done in this country. Microsoft, however, counters that
Redmond will continue to be its development hub. Ours is a centrali ed development model,
and we don't see the staff in India growing into thousands, the spokeswoman said. We
invested in a parcel of land that will allow us options and flexibility for future growth. While
we do not yet understand how large our presence will be in the future, it made good business
sense to buy this parcel now should we need it in the future. Taking a cue from a number of
multinational tech companies, Microsoft has also set up a support center in Bangalore. Called
the Global Technology Support Center, the operation offers voice- and e-mail-based tech
support to Microsoft customers worldwide. We have this strategy to follow the sun to offer
round-the-clock support, and hence a support center in India made sense, the spokeswoman
said. The center currently employs about 250 staff; Microsoft has no immediate plans
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