Have you seen this? This picture was recently sort of recreated by these guys:
http://www.meetro.com/happyholidays/
Before more goofs shout the what did they innovate mantra, Id have to direct you to the comment Jason made above. Hes dead on correct. Most folks dont realize what Microsoft did for applications in business as well as the home, in those early days when they were a nothing. apps by other companies far bigger at the time were kludgy, didnt interoperlate well etc. MS drove the movment to make applications work better together and to be better all together.
So years later after the MS success you have open source and things like linux. I ask where was something like Linux in 1983? Where was anything like linux from the Unix world in 1983? On top of that, when IBM released OS2 they goofed that in the manner in which they released it to the market. Apple screwed up for not licensing the OS etc. Microsofts dominance wasnt given to them on a silver platter.
“What are the acheivement or invention of Microsoft from 1985 to 2005 and who acheived it or did it ??”
jimbobob wrote: 50 Trillion blue screens, bloated software that crashes and self-corrupts, inferior and virus prone internet/email software, … and the list goes on. If microsoft hadn’t come along, maybe we’d all be using Macs or something even better… I have respect for Bill as a mercenary business mogul, but not so much for what he did for the computer - Microsoft’s mediocrity is anything but mediocre…
these are some of the microsoft products i’ve used during that timeframe:
applications: word, excel, powerpoint, access, outlook, outlook express, internet explorer, frontpage
backoffice: SQL server
programming: basic, VB6, VBA, VBScript, VB.NET
hardware: xbox, mice, keyboards
20 years ago software was largely fragmented, didn’t interoperate at all, and did a smidgen of what it does today. microsoft was the primary driving force from the lower end toward the upper end…early versions of all of their software sucked compared to competitors and they iteratively improve it until they’ve equalled or surpassed them and then completely dominate: DOS vs OS2 etc., office vs wordperfect etc., NT vs novell etc., IE vs netscape etc., SQL server vs nothing on the low-end oracle DB2 on the high end, etc.
open source may eat their lunch in the future, but i’m sure damn glad microsoft was around these past couple of decades bundling software and releasing new, more functional versions of windows and everything else.
jason on January 19, 2007 01:50 PM
Do Bill Gates Paul Allen have employee #'s?
MovieSiteArchive.com on January 20, 2007 11:17 PM
I’d imagine they have employER #'s if anything.
That microsoft logo from 1978 is pretty fabulous - if anyone is interested, I found a version the typeface: http://www.dafont.com/akka.font
Enjoy.
There’s a proove, that ugly people can do stuff too. And good. 
Look, when it comes to computers, Bill Gates and Paul Allen made it happen.
I was seven years old when I got my first TI: tape driven, monochrome, and my parents couldn’t figure out how to use it (put in the DAMN tape Mom!).
Bill Gates and Microsoft made it easy for the people of the Bill Gates Generation to use a computer (since my parents are from the same generation). At the same time, I was taught to use an AppleII at school (which, when compared to an IBM running DOS, the Apple was garbage, even in my young eyes). Why change disks every ten freaking minutes and interrupt my game of Oregon Trail?
What Microsoft did was make the PC available to the masses; in turn they reolutionized the world; Yet pissed off the people who wanted to keep computers a cryptic, unknown medium.
Saying Microsoft ruined the computing world and Linux is helping save it is to saying that mechanics are ruining the automotive world and backyard mechanics are saving it. In the same sense it is like driving a manual transmission car versus an automatic.
While some of us prefer a stick, at least as many of us prefer an automatic.
In summation please stop the bitching; from both sides, please just let people have domain over whatever it is they want to do and shut the F*ck up…please.
“IBM then made the colossal blunder of not buying it from MS, but licensing it.” - atouk
IBM did a fair bit of their own licensing, like making $5 from every ‘IBM Compatible PC’ anyone sold with a different badge and the same sort of amount from any laptop ‘Trackpoints’!
The fact IBM include something like the fourth biggest bank in the world in their portfolio shows they did pretty well themselves too!
Good buisness, not good code build Microsoft. If you look back, Bill et. al. didn’t write MS-DOS, but bought it. IBM then made the colossal blunder of not buying it from MS, but licensing it.
The group was a case of the right people, in the right place, at the right time.
Opportunity knocked, and the Gates gang beat the crap or of it, tied it up, and still has it locked up in the basement.
I should have included at least one link, my apologies.
When I saw this photo on a BurnLounge site I didn’t think it was real, figured it was a family photo or something. They were right I may not have invested! A lot of people missed the boat in 1978, but I was barely alive. But I think this generation has it opportunities too. The creators of MySpace, and YouTube are sitting pretty, too bad none of us saw any of that. But finally a company has launched that is letting people not only have a Free MySpace-type page, but you can also sell music and movies on it, and get compensated for it!
Checkout www.BurnReview.com
Marc, I have several (7) million dollars but don’t have several billion. i can assure you that there is a big difference in the real world.
Carlos Slim is richer than Bill Gates.
This is really amayzing… the man who never show comming was Bill Gates. This luck of nerd was terrific and no one take him seriusly and BAM! 50 Billons!!!
Thas a great lesson to learn.
I wish I can become a shareholder in Microsoft also!I swear the god!I won’t leave this corporation as the other!!!
Yeah, Slim has surpassed Gates… note that this article was written 2 years before your comment there, Erin. Way to go!
“to bad bill isnt the richest man in the world. Do you research before you state false comments”
Also the richest person is not American any more
One more the wealthiest company is not American any more too, it is a Chinese Company.
Oh my God!
United States Economy is also is not the biggest any more…
Waof, European Economy is 23% is more bigger than US Economy.
Look!!!
NY Stocks Exchange Market also does not have the biggest trade volume in the world.
London Stocks Exchange beated its volume last year and this year.
Wealth of Bill Gates
Come on man!
Bill had 60 billion €(EURO) wealth 5 years ago
Bill has 34 billion €(EURO) wealth today (November 2007)
He lost nearly half of his wealth.
I will never hold such a company stock.
Oh man!
This is 2 days after my last post
now the wealth of Bill is 33.3Billion €
dollar lost 1% value in two days.
What is happening to dollar?
Dollar sucks man.
Dig those hair-do’s!