1979: The Dawn of an Era

Microsoft: Then & Now

In this 1984 file photo, Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp., is shown. Just years prior, Gates founded what was to become Microsoft with just 13 employees. (AP Photo)

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1979: The Dawn o... In this 1984 file photo, Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp., is shown. Just years prior, Gates founded what was to become Microsoft with just 13 employees. (AP Photo)
1980: MS-DOS By 1980, Gates had licensed his MS-DOS operating system to International Business Machines Corp. for its inaugural personal computer. In this photo, a man tries out the enhanced version of IBM's Personal Computer, which was unveiled on March 8, 1983. (AP Photo)
1984: Windows Ap... The assembly line at a Microsoft factory. With its Windows operating system, the company introduced software that could be used both at home and at work. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)
1990: Mr. Micros... Gates, founder and CEO of Microsoft, is seen in this September 1990 photo. (AP Photo)
1995: Windows 95 Manuals for Microsoft's long-awaited operating-system upgrade, Windows 95, await packaging at the software company's Canyon Park Manufacturing facility in Redmond, Wash., in this photo taken on Aug. 24, 1995, the day of the product's release. (AP Photo/Robert Sorbo)
1996: MSN Is Bor... Pete Higgins, group vice president for applications and content at Microsoft introduces the new Microsoft Network Internet access at a news conference Oct. 16, 1996, in New York. The service came with a one-month unlimited-usage trial period. (AP Photo/Chris Kasson)
1996: MSNBC NBC and Microsoft announced in late 1995 that they planned to start a cable news channel and related online service by the middle of the following year called "msNBC." (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
2000: Windows 20... Copies of Microsoft's Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 2000 Server are shown as they roll off on an assembly line in Salt Lake City. The next-generation PC operating system went on sale worldwide on Feb. 17, 2000. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen)
2000: Pocket PC Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer helped launch the new Pocket PC on April 19, 2000 in New York. Microsoft and three partners unveiled a new generation of handheld organizers designed to keep appointments, play music, record sound, balance checkbooks and surf the Internet. (AP Photo/Microsoft, Jeff Christensen)
2001: Xbox A controller for Microsoft's Xbox video-game system is seen at the company's booth at the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover, Germany. Microsoft took aim at Sony's PlayStation 2 with the release of Xbox in 2001. (AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer)
2005: Palm Treo Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates and Verizon Wireless chief executive Denny Strigl smile as they hold up the new Palm Treo smartphone during a joint news conference on Sept. 26, 2005 in San Francisco. Palm announced that it had gone into business with former rival Microsoft to launch a Windows-based Treo smartphone, marking the first time a Palm product would run on an operating system other than Palm's. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
2006: Windows Vi... A screenshot shows Windows Vista with the software's integrated peer-to-peer technology. Vista, the successor to the Windows XP operating system, was highly anticipated before its 2006 release, but received subpar reviews. (AP Photo/Screenshot: Peter Zschunke)
2006: Zune Music... A menu screen shows a list of albums on Zune, the Microsoft Corp. music player released in 2006. Few have accused Microsoft of being first to the market. But plenty have learned the hard way that the company can be very good at sneaking up from behind, the tack Microsoft has taken with entertainment products. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
2008: LifeCam A model displays the LifeCam VX-5500, a webcam launched by Microsoft in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
2008: DreamSpark Microsoft founder Bill Gates talks to a student at the launch of the company's DreamSpark software in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 5, 2008. DreamSpark is free software for students around the world that offers access to the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
2009: Windows Mo... Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer talks about Windows Mobile as he delivers the keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
2009: Internet E... The Internet Explorer 8 Web browser adds features meant to speed up common Web surfing tasks and bring the browser's security measures in line with those of major competitors. IE 8 marks Microsoft's first major browser update since August 2006. This image shows a page on the Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Web site announcing the upgrade. (AP Photo)
2009: Xbox 360 E... In this product image released by Microsoft, a Project Natal sensor for the Xbox 360 is shown. The sensor tracks a player's full body movement while responding to commands, directions and a shift of emotion in voice without the need for a controller. (AP Photo/Microsoft)
2009: Bill Gates... Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates makes remarks at the National Conference of State Legislatures held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on July 21, 2009. Gates said in his speech that the U.S. needs better ways to measure student and teacher performance to improve its schools. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
2009: Windows 7 According to Microsoft, its new operating system, Windows 7, was inspired by Microsoft users and designed to fit their needs. The new program features everything from bigger screen icons to simple solutions for networking files and printers. File folders can now be organized into "libraries," and users can quickly access their favorite songs, websites, and documents. With Windows 7, touch-sensitive computers can read more than one finger on a touch pad or touch screen, allowing for neat tricks such as spreading your fingers to zoom into a picture. (AP Photo)