Microsoft at Crossroads: Coping with the Changing Dynamics of the Industry
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Case Code: BSTR457 Case Length: 16 Pages Period: 2010 - 2014 Pub Date: 2014 Teaching Note: Not Available |
Price: Rs.500 Organization: Microsoft Corporation Industry: Information Technology Countries: Global Themes: Innovation, Market Agility |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
About Microsoft Corporation
The history of Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) dated back to 1975 when Harvard University dropout, Bill Gates (Gates), established Micro-soft in a hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Initially, Gates, together with high school friend Paul Allen (Allen), developed a version of BASIC, a programming language. The duo sold the modified version of the software to other companies.
In 1979, Gates shifted Micro-soft to his hometown Seattle. In 1980, IBM Corp. selected the firm, which by then had been renamed Microsoft, to develop the operating system for its new computing machines. Later, Gates purchased QDOS (Quick & Dirty Operating System) for US$ 50,000 from a programmer. He called it MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). In 1983, Allen resigned from Microsoft on health grounds.
In the mid-1980s, Microsoft launched Windows, a graphics-based version of MS-DOS. In 1986, the company went public. Windows NT was launched in 1993; the newer version competed with the UNIX operating system. In the early 1990s, the company was embroiled in legal battles as monopoly charges were pressed against it. In 1995, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) objected to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Intuit, a company that developed software for the personal finance industry, on antitrust concerns.
Microsoft was a little late in jumping on to the Internet bandwagon. In 1995, the company launched Microsoft Network (MSN). It also introduced the Internet Explorer, a web browser, that year. In 1998, the DoJ filed antitrust charges against Microsoft, contending that the Seattle-based company limited consumer choice in the Internet browser market by choking competition. In the same year, Gates appointed Steve Ballmer (Ballmer) as the president...
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