E-Business
40 Fascinating Facts About Microsoft At 40
Microsoft as a software giant started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, is showing new energy lately, even as it has ventured into mobile devices.
With the release of Windows 10 and a new browser later this year sending Internet Explorer to the ‘grave’, Microsoft has not garnered so much excitement in a long time.
In honor of the Redmond, Washington, company’s 40th birthday, abc News took a look at 40 of the people, products and moments that helped define Microsoft’s first four decades.
1. Bill Gates – Harvard’s first most famous dropout (Mark Zuckerberg would come decades later) is the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $79.2 billion, according to Forbes.
2. Paul Allen – The other half of Microsoft, Allen told Fortune Magazine in 1995 that he was responsible for suggesting the company’s name when he and Gates first went into business together.
3. Microsoft’s first product: Software for the Altair 8800. By 1978, year-end sales had topped $1 million.
4. Getting a deal to provide a DOS Operating System for IBM’s computers in 1980 was a huge moment in Microsoft history, positioning the company as a software leader.
5. On Nov. 20, 1985, two years after the initial announcement, Microsoft ships Windows 1.0.
6. Gates and Allen took their company public in 1986 with IPO shares priced at $21.
7. Microsoft Office for Mac is released in 1989.
8. Windows 3.0 ships in 1990, ushering in the era of graphics on computers.
9. Windows 95 launches in 1995, selling an astounding 7 million copies in the first five weeks, according to Microsoft.
10. Windows 95 is also the first time the start menu, task bar, minimize, maximize and close buttons are introduced on each window.
“The Internet Tidal Wave,” a 1995 memo written by Gates, calls the Internet “the most important development since the advent of the PC.” That Bill Gates turned out to be right.
11. As the Internet exploded, Microsoft came out with its first browser, Internet Explorer, in 1997, thus beginning a love-hate relationship until its death in 2015.
12. Gates stepped aside as CEO in 2000, giving Microsoft its first new leader in the company’s 25-year history.
13. Microsoft’s riches allowed Gates to start the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world. Gates’ charity has focused on everything from education to world health initiatives.
14. Meanwhile at Microsoft, Gates’ longtime right-hand man, Steve Ballmer, became known as a hard-charging and excitable CEO. He stepped down in 2014.
15. In August 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP. The interface was pretty and allowed people to burn music (here’s my playlist, bro) and is remembered as one of the more important Windows updates.
16. Speaking of Windows, it was pretty genius of Microsoft to begin bundling Word, PowerPoint and Excel together beginning in 1990, setting the standard for offices everywhere.
17. Microsoft’s bet on PowerPoint was a winner. The company acquired the program for $14 million from Forethought Inc. in 1987.
18. There were embarrassing moments too, though. Like when Excel had a multiplication bug in 2007.
19. The U.S. Department of Justice accused Microsoft of being a monopoly and in 1999 a judge agreed. That ruling was later vacated and Microsoft settled the antitrust case.
20. You don’t go 40 years as a multi-billion dollar company without having your share of headaches. In 2008, the European Union slapped a record fine of $1.3 billion on Microsoft for anti-competitive behavior
21. Microsoft Internet Explorer has suffered its share of an image problem. An alert from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned users in 2004 that holes in the browser could lead to their passwords and other personal information falling into the hands of hackers.
Microsoft rolled out a fix, however, security issues continued to snowball.
22. Microsoft this year announced it would be releasing a new and improved browser, Project Spartan, effectively killing off the oft-maligned Internet Explorer.
23. If you’re an Apple fan, you can thank Microsoft for helping keep them afloat in 1997 when Microsoft invested $150 million in the company.
24. Later on, of course, Apple would thrive and grew into the world’s most valuable company while taking shots at Microsoft along the way. Who can forget those iconic “I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” commercials? They didn’t do wonders for Microsoft’s image.
25. Sure Microsoft went through an era of not being cool, but let’s get nostalgic for a moment and remember the joy that was Microsoft’s Clipart collection — long before it was easy to integrate photos.
26. Let’s not forget Clippy, the paperclip assistant in Windows who was always there to help.
27. Microsoft bought video and messaging service Skype in 2011.
28. Since then they’ve done some pretty cool projects with the service, including Skype Translator, which was showed off last year.
The program lets people who speak two different languages seamlessly communicate.
29. Windows 8 was released in 2012 with a radical design overhaul featuring tiles and provoking a love-it-or-hate-it response.
30. With everyone owning a smart device, Microsoft got into the game too with its Windows Phone operating system.
31. Microsoft took the mobile push even further in 2014 when it acquired smartphone maker Nokia.
32. Cortana, Microsoft’s intelligent virtual assistant, made her debut last year and has quickly positioned herself as a sassier counterpart to Apple’s Siri.
33. Microsoft’s goal is to have a presence on all of your devices. The Office suite of apps came to iOS and Android devices free of charge last year.
They quickly shot to the top of the charts in Google Play and Apple’s app store and have been downloaded more than 80 million times, according to Microsoft.
34. Even though Bing only has a sliver of the traffic that Google receives, Microsoft really wants to be thought of as a place people turn to for search.
35. In the new millennium, Microsoft set its sights on joining an already crowded gaming market by releasing the first Xbox in 2001.
Versions of the gaming console can be found in plenty of living rooms to this day.
36. Microsoft Studios established 343 Industries, which creates games, including the popular Halo franchise.
37. Speaking of games, Microsoft showed off HoloLens, its new virtual reality glasses, earlier this year. Imagine holographic Skype calls, playing a holographic video game in a world you’re a part of, or using the glasses to virtually design a new product.
38. Windows 10, the operating system update that is so radical it prompted Microsoft to skip straight from Windows 8, will be coming to users later this year. It’s the first Windows product in a while to generate huge excitement.
39. Satya Nadella, who completed his first year as CEO in February, has packed plenty of accomplishments into his freshman year — from Windows 10 to Project Spartan to HoloLens. Dare we say he’s also made Microsoft cool again?
40. Perhaps its biggest accomplishment of all: Microsoft has changed the way we work. Goodbye typewriters and fax machines!
Microsoft is planning to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The company introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 but has lagged rivals such as Alphabet and Amazon in scaling up its in-house chip efforts as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s costly processors.
Google began recognizing revenue from direct sales of its custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units, in the quarter ended June, while Amazon has also seen growing adoption of its processors, including its Trainium chips.
Microsoft has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chip for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It is also looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip.
Microsoft ultimately aims to secure capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips, though component supplies and ongoing capacity negotiations with TSMC could constrain its plans, according to the report.
It unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 in January, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology.
Microsoft packed the chip with a significant amount of SRAM, a type of memory that can provide speed advantages for AI systems handling large numbers of user requests.
X has announced plans to discontinue its Revenue Sharing programme and introduce a new Original Content Rewards programme to reward creators for producing original content on the platform.
The social media company announced the changes at the weekend in a post on its X Creators handle, saying the new programme would reward creators who contribute original content.
“Today, we’re introducing the Original Content Rewards Program, a new way to reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X,” the company said.
X said it would stop accepting new enrolments into the Revenue Sharing programme from Friday, while existing participants would continue earning until September 7, 2026.
“Starting today, we’re no longer accepting new enrollments into Revenue Sharing,” it said.
According to the company, existing Revenue Sharing participants will receive three final payouts, with two scheduled for August 14 and August 28, while the final payment for earnings accrued through September 7 is expected around September 11.
X said existing Revenue Sharing participants would begin getting access to apply for the new programme from September 8, subject to meeting its eligibility requirements.
The first payout under the Original Content Rewards programme will be made on August 28, 2026, while existing Revenue Sharing creators who enrol in the new programme from September 8 will receive their first payment on September 25.
Under the new programme, eligible creators will earn from qualified impressions generated by their original content, with payments made every two weeks.
X defined qualified impressions as unique impressions from Premium users on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50 per cent of a post is visible.
On the other hand, “The following are excluded from qualified impressions: impressions from the same account counted more than once per post; paid, promoted, or artificially generated impressions; and fraudulent impressions,” it said.
To qualify, creators must be at least 18 years old, live in a country where the programme is available, maintain an account in good standing and have either a personal or vusiness account.
They must also subscribe to X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business, have at least 500 verified followers and record at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users within the previous 90 days.
X said creators must also regularly post original content to remain eligible.
“We want to recognize creators who break news, share expertise, tell stories, create entertainment, and contribute meaningful perspectives to the conversation,” the company said.
The platform said original content could include threads, videos, memes, graphics, illustrations, reporting, analysis, commentary and reactions that add meaningful value to existing conversations.
It said creators who use content produced by others would need to add meaningful commentary, context, analysis, humour or creative transformation for such posts to qualify.
“Building on existing conversations is a core part of X, but simply reposting someone else’s content is not enough,” it said.
X said minor edits such as cropping, filters, borders, watermarks, speed adjustments or simple text overlays would generally not qualify as meaningful transformation on their own.
It also warned that content copied or substantially reproduced from another creator, content downloaded and re-uploaded from X or another platform without being the original author’s, automated content, disinformation and misleading content would be ineligible.
The company said accounts that violate the programme’s requirements could be temporarily or permanently removed from it, depending on the severity of the violation.
It added that creators would be responsible for ensuring they had the necessary rights, permissions or licences to use content created by others.
“Original content is content you personally create that reflects your own voice, perspective, expertise, or creativity,” X said.
The company said the new programme was intended to reward creators who make the platform more valuable by bringing original ideas and perspectives to its conversations.
“The Original Content Rewards Program is designed to reward the creators who start them, shape them, and move them forward,” it said.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has introduced so-called Nigeria’s Certified Cloud Register, regulatory framework developed under the agency’s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative to determine which cloud providers are authorized to handle sensitive data, such as banking records.
In effect, from October, NITDA requires banks, fintech companies and other regulated organisations to source cloud infrastructure providers from a national register of certified firms approved to host sensitive financial and government data.
The Certified Cloud Register, is expected to strengthen data sovereignty, improve regulatory oversight and support the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) data localisation policy, which takes effect on January 1, 2027.
Under the framework, banks, fintechs, government institutions and other regulated entities will be able to verify whether cloud service providers, data centre operators, managed service providers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure companies have met NITDA’s certification requirements before entrusting them with critical digital workloads.
The initiative is expected to provide regulated institutions with a standardised process for selecting cloud infrastructure providers that satisfy Nigeria’s technical, security and regulatory requirements.
According to NITDA, the framework establishes “a common national standard, an independent assessment process and a public register of approved providers that banks, fintechs and government institutions can rely on when selecting cloud infrastructure partners.”
The register is expected to become a key compliance tool ahead of the CBN’s directive, which requires all payment transaction data generated within Nigeria to be stored and processed locally, effective from January 1, 2027.
The policy applies to deposit money banks, microfinance banks, mobile money operators, payment service providers, switching companies and other financial institutions.
The certification regime is also expected to reshape Nigeria’s cloud computing ecosystem, making regulatory approval a major requirement for cloud providers seeking to handle sensitive data for regulated industries.
Figures cited by NITDA showed that Nigeria’s 10 largest banks spent about N177.91 billion on information technology in the first quarter of 2026, representing a 31 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year.
A sizeable portion of the investment currently supports cloud infrastructure hosted outside Nigeria, a trend the new certification framework is expected to address by encouraging greater utilisation of compliant local infrastructure.
NITDA said the certification programme will apply the same technical and regulatory standards to indigenous cloud providers and international hyperscale operators, creating a level playing field for all companies seeking to provide cloud services to regulated sectors.
The agency also disclosed that more than 85 per cent of Nigerian businesses currently rely on cloud services, with the majority using infrastructure hosted outside the country.
It said the new framework is aimed at improving confidence in Nigeria’s digital infrastructure while promoting local capacity and enhancing oversight of critical national data.
Speaking on the objective of the initiative, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of NITDA, said the programme is designed to strengthen Nigeria’s position in the global digital economy rather than exclude foreign technology companies.
According to him, the initiative is intended “to redefine the terms under which Nigeria participates in the global digital economy rather than isolate the country from international technology providers.”
The Certified Cloud Register forms part of broader efforts by the Federal Government to deepen digital trust, strengthen cybersecurity and ensure that critical financial and public sector data are managed in line with Nigeria’s evolving data governance and sovereignty objectives.
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