25 Interesting Facts About The History Of Microsoft And Its Rise To Domination

Nathan Johnson Published 04/11/2016 in wow

When it comes to large tech companies, there are few that have forged a reputation for themselves that is more ubiquitous than that of Microsoft

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1.
The generic user outline used in Microsoft Outlook 2010 was actually Bill Gate's mugshot from when he got caught driving without a license
2.
Charles Simonyi, the inventor of Microsoft Office, has paid nearly $30 million to visit the International Space Station…twice!
3.
A guy named Bob was the first to buy the domain name "windows2000.com". Ironically, Microsoft owned "bob.com" so they worked out a deal.
4.
For every Android device, Microsoft gets about $8 in royalties. In 2013 that worked out to nearly $3.5 billion
5.
Microsoft intentionally made msn.com look wrong on Opera browsers in order to push people to use Internet Explorer.
6.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is the company's longest running product. It precedes Windows by 3 years!
7.
In 1997, Microsoft actually gave Apple $150 million in a deal that has been misconstrued as altruistic (it wasn't, but it is still funny that Microsoft paid its competitor so much)
8.
One of the reasons Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows was to familiarize users with drag and drop interfaces. This was something most people still had no experience with.
9.
In 2001, some Microsoft employees continued to work right through an earthquake in spite of alarms. It wasn't until they received an on-screen warning to leave the building that they left their workstations
10.
The original Halo video game was a third person shooter for the Mac. At least until Microsoft bought Bungie and released the game on Xbox instead.
11.
3 billionaires and more than 12,000 millionaires owe their fortunes to Microsoft
12.
Microsoft Encarta was originally codenamed Gandalf. It's demise has been largely attributed to Wikipedia
13.
One of Microsoft's most famous interview questions was "Why are manhole covers round?"
14.
In order to acknowledge the transition from the print age to the digital age, Microsoft changed its official font from Times New Roman to Calibri 11
15.
In 1995, Windows95 was the second most installed piece of software. The video game DOOM was first.
16.
In 2104, Microsoft and the NFL struck a deal to use Microsoft Surface as the league's official tablet. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the announcers kept calling them iPads.
17.
It was in 1998 that the Microsoft DirectX team came up with an idea for a new game console and called it the directXbox. It was then shortened to Xbox.
18.
The first mention of Microsoft was in a letter Bill Gates wrote to his co-founder Paul Allen. In the letter, Bill hyphenated the company name (Micro-soft).
19.
The average "Softie" (Microsoft employee) is a 38 year old male
20.
Bill Gates bought the Da Vinci Codex for $30 million. He then had the pages scanned and released as screen savers for Windows 95
21.
A teenager (Mike Rowe) once registered the domain mikerowesoft.com for his web business. He ended up getting sued by Microsoft.
22.
DirectX was originally codenamed the "Manhattan Project" because Microsoft was trying to end Japan's domination of the video game industry. Yes, somebody at Microsoft had a very dark sense of humor.
23.
The average starting salary for a Microsoft developer is $106,000
24.
Microsoft has over 10,000 patents which makes it one of the top 5 patent holders in the United States
25.
When Internet Explorer 4 was first released, some drunk Microsoft employees planted a huge Internet Explorer logo in the fountain outside of Netscape's headquarters

1.
The generic user outline used in Microsoft Outlook 2010 was actually Bill Gate's mugshot from when he got caught driving without a license
2.
Charles Simonyi, the inventor of Microsoft Office, has paid nearly $30 million to visit the International Space Station…twice!
3.
A guy named Bob was the first to buy the domain name "windows2000.com". Ironically, Microsoft owned "bob.com" so they worked out a deal.
4.
For every Android device, Microsoft gets about $8 in royalties. In 2013 that worked out to nearly $3.5 billion
5.
Microsoft intentionally made msn.com look wrong on Opera browsers in order to push people to use Internet Explorer.
6.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is the company's longest running product. It precedes Windows by 3 years!
7.
In 1997, Microsoft actually gave Apple $150 million in a deal that has been misconstrued as altruistic (it wasn't, but it is still funny that Microsoft paid its competitor so much)
8.
One of the reasons Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows was to familiarize users with drag and drop interfaces. This was something most people still had no experience with.
9.
In 2001, some Microsoft employees continued to work right through an earthquake in spite of alarms. It wasn't until they received an on-screen warning to leave the building that they left their workstations
10.
The original Halo video game was a third person shooter for the Mac. At least until Microsoft bought Bungie and released the game on Xbox instead.
11.
3 billionaires and more than 12,000 millionaires owe their fortunes to Microsoft
12.
Microsoft Encarta was originally codenamed Gandalf. It's demise has been largely attributed to Wikipedia
13.
One of Microsoft's most famous interview questions was "Why are manhole covers round?"
14.
In order to acknowledge the transition from the print age to the digital age, Microsoft changed its official font from Times New Roman to Calibri 11
15.
In 1995, Windows95 was the second most installed piece of software. The video game DOOM was first.
16.
In 2104, Microsoft and the NFL struck a deal to use Microsoft Surface as the league's official tablet. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the announcers kept calling them iPads.
17.
It was in 1998 that the Microsoft DirectX team came up with an idea for a new game console and called it the directXbox. It was then shortened to Xbox.
18.
The first mention of Microsoft was in a letter Bill Gates wrote to his co-founder Paul Allen. In the letter, Bill hyphenated the company name (Micro-soft).
19.
The average "Softie" (Microsoft employee) is a 38 year old male
20.
Bill Gates bought the Da Vinci Codex for $30 million. He then had the pages scanned and released as screen savers for Windows 95
21.
A teenager (Mike Rowe) once registered the domain mikerowesoft.com for his web business. He ended up getting sued by Microsoft.
22.
DirectX was originally codenamed the "Manhattan Project" because Microsoft was trying to end Japan's domination of the video game industry. Yes, somebody at Microsoft had a very dark sense of humor.
23.
The average starting salary for a Microsoft developer is $106,000
24.
Microsoft has over 10,000 patents which makes it one of the top 5 patent holders in the United States
25.
When Internet Explorer 4 was first released, some drunk Microsoft employees planted a huge Internet Explorer logo in the fountain outside of Netscape's headquarters

The generic user outline used in Microsoft Outlook 2010 was actually Bill Gate's mugshot from when he got caught driving without a license

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1. The generic user outline used in Microsoft Outlook 2010 was actually Bill Gate's mugshot from when he got caught driving without a license

2. Charles Simonyi, the inventor of Microsoft Office, has paid nearly $30 million to visit the International Space Station…twice!

3. A guy named Bob was the first to buy the domain name "windows2000.com". Ironically, Microsoft owned "bob.com" so they worked out a deal.

4. For every Android device, Microsoft gets about $8 in royalties. In 2013 that worked out to nearly $3.5 billion

5. Microsoft intentionally made msn.com look wrong on Opera browsers in order to push people to use Internet Explorer.

6. Microsoft Flight Simulator is the company's longest running product. It precedes Windows by 3 years!

7. In 1997, Microsoft actually gave Apple $150 million in a deal that has been misconstrued as altruistic (it wasn't, but it is still funny that Microsoft paid its competitor so much)

8. One of the reasons Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows was to familiarize users with drag and drop interfaces. This was something most people still had no experience with.

9. In 2001, some Microsoft employees continued to work right through an earthquake in spite of alarms. It wasn't until they received an on-screen warning to leave the building that they left their workstations

10. The original Halo video game was a third person shooter for the Mac. At least until Microsoft bought Bungie and released the game on Xbox instead.

11. 3 billionaires and more than 12,000 millionaires owe their fortunes to Microsoft

12. Microsoft Encarta was originally codenamed Gandalf. It's demise has been largely attributed to Wikipedia

13. One of Microsoft's most famous interview questions was "Why are manhole covers round?"

14. In order to acknowledge the transition from the print age to the digital age, Microsoft changed its official font from Times New Roman to Calibri 11

15. In 1995, Windows95 was the second most installed piece of software. The video game DOOM was first.

16. In 2104, Microsoft and the NFL struck a deal to use Microsoft Surface as the league's official tablet. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the announcers kept calling them iPads.

17. It was in 1998 that the Microsoft DirectX team came up with an idea for a new game console and called it the directXbox. It was then shortened to Xbox.

18. The first mention of Microsoft was in a letter Bill Gates wrote to his co-founder Paul Allen. In the letter, Bill hyphenated the company name (Micro-soft).

19. The average "Softie" (Microsoft employee) is a 38 year old male

20. Bill Gates bought the Da Vinci Codex for $30 million. He then had the pages scanned and released as screen savers for Windows 95

21. A teenager (Mike Rowe) once registered the domain mikerowesoft.com for his web business. He ended up getting sued by Microsoft.

22. DirectX was originally codenamed the "Manhattan Project" because Microsoft was trying to end Japan's domination of the video game industry. Yes, somebody at Microsoft had a very dark sense of humor.

23. The average starting salary for a Microsoft developer is $106,000

24. Microsoft has over 10,000 patents which makes it one of the top 5 patent holders in the United States

25. When Internet Explorer 4 was first released, some drunk Microsoft employees planted a huge Internet Explorer logo in the fountain outside of Netscape's headquarters

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1.
The generic user outline used in Microsoft Outlook 2010 was actually Bill Gate's mugshot from when he got caught driving without a license

2.
Charles Simonyi, the inventor of Microsoft Office, has paid nearly $30 million to visit the International Space Station…twice!

3.
A guy named Bob was the first to buy the domain name "windows2000.com". Ironically, Microsoft owned "bob.com" so they worked out a deal.

4.
For every Android device, Microsoft gets about $8 in royalties. In 2013 that worked out to nearly $3.5 billion

5.
Microsoft intentionally made msn.com look wrong on Opera browsers in order to push people to use Internet Explorer.

6.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is the company's longest running product. It precedes Windows by 3 years!

7.
In 1997, Microsoft actually gave Apple $150 million in a deal that has been misconstrued as altruistic (it wasn't, but it is still funny that Microsoft paid its competitor so much)

8.
One of the reasons Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows was to familiarize users with drag and drop interfaces. This was something most people still had no experience with.

9.
In 2001, some Microsoft employees continued to work right through an earthquake in spite of alarms. It wasn't until they received an on-screen warning to leave the building that they left their workstations

10.
The original Halo video game was a third person shooter for the Mac. At least until Microsoft bought Bungie and released the game on Xbox instead.

11.
3 billionaires and more than 12,000 millionaires owe their fortunes to Microsoft

12.
Microsoft Encarta was originally codenamed Gandalf. It's demise has been largely attributed to Wikipedia

13.
One of Microsoft's most famous interview questions was "Why are manhole covers round?"

14.
In order to acknowledge the transition from the print age to the digital age, Microsoft changed its official font from Times New Roman to Calibri 11

15.
In 1995, Windows95 was the second most installed piece of software. The video game DOOM was first.

16.
In 2104, Microsoft and the NFL struck a deal to use Microsoft Surface as the league's official tablet. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the announcers kept calling them iPads.

17.
It was in 1998 that the Microsoft DirectX team came up with an idea for a new game console and called it the directXbox. It was then shortened to Xbox.

18.
The first mention of Microsoft was in a letter Bill Gates wrote to his co-founder Paul Allen. In the letter, Bill hyphenated the company name (Micro-soft).

19.
The average "Softie" (Microsoft employee) is a 38 year old male

20.
Bill Gates bought the Da Vinci Codex for $30 million. He then had the pages scanned and released as screen savers for Windows 95

21.
A teenager (Mike Rowe) once registered the domain mikerowesoft.com for his web business. He ended up getting sued by Microsoft.

22.
DirectX was originally codenamed the "Manhattan Project" because Microsoft was trying to end Japan's domination of the video game industry. Yes, somebody at Microsoft had a very dark sense of humor.

23.
The average starting salary for a Microsoft developer is $106,000

24.
Microsoft has over 10,000 patents which makes it one of the top 5 patent holders in the United States

25.
When Internet Explorer 4 was first released, some drunk Microsoft employees planted a huge Internet Explorer logo in the fountain outside of Netscape's headquarters