The History of Microsoft (2001-Present)
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2017-05-06
·
1,183 words · ~5 min read
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last time we looked at how Microsoft went from Distributing software on paper
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tape to becoming the dominant force in
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the consumer software industry up through their launch of Windows XP in
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2001 Windows XP was incredibly
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successful in spite of Microsoft's introduction of the unpopular product
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activation feature designed to stop
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piracy it was installed on an estimated 80
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5% of desktop computers at one point
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though another estimate put the proportion of illegitimate installations
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at 35% poor Bill not that the European
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Union had much sympathy for Microsoft when it slapped the company with a half
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billion Euro fine in 2004 citing abuse
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of its dominance with proprietary code
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Microsoft was also forced to ship Windows XP without media player for the
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European market sound familiar not to be deterred though by
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royally cheesing off Regulators on at least two continents by this point
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Microsoft pushed forward with new products like zoom and Windows Vista
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both of which flopped harder than the Star Wars holiday special Zoom was a
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portable music player and by most accounts a really cool one too bad that
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by the time zoom was released in late 2006 iPod had already become synonymous
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with taking your music with you Windows
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Vista that same year was in a way the
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other side of the same coin in the sense that it was released with a lot of
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fanfare but was quickly panned by veteran Tech reviewers and novice
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computer users alike although it looked
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modern with appealing features like The Arrow theme and desktop widgets at
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launch it lacked driver support it was
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unstable it required more processing power than mere mortals could afford and
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it Incorporated some extremely unpopular DRM Technologies forcing Microsoft to
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offer Vista license owners the option to
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downgrade back to Windows XP oops the
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mid 2000s weren't a total disaster for Microsoft though the Xbox 360 released
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in late 2005 went on to become a true
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Juggernaut in the world of console gaming with its comfortable intuitive
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controller that remains popular to this day a well-implemented online experience
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through Xbox Live a large game library
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and solid performance at a lower cost
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than Sony's Playstation 3 the Xbox 360
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even outsold the PS3 despite Sony's
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greater experience in the console Market
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later in 2009 Microsoft finally released
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a worthy successor to the then 8-year-old Windows XP the simply named
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Windows 7 which retained the visual
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appeal of Windows Vista but featured vast improvements to Performance and
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stability as well as modern features like better support for multi-core CPUs
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and the ability to snap Windows to the
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sides of the screen in fact in Sp of Microsoft's free upgrade offer to
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Windows 10 Windows 7 is still the most
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used version of Windows as of January
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2017 but with smartphones especially the
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iPhone from rival Apple computer exploting in popularity around this time
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Microsoft knew it couldn't focus primarily on the traditional PC space
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forever and rolled out Windows Phone 7
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in 2010 with subsequent mobile versions
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of Windows in the following years
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unfortunately for Microsoft Windows Phone having been beaten to the punch by
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iOS and Android more or less went the
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same way as the zoom so app developers didn't bother supporting Windows Phone
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completing Microsoft's failure Baloo more successful though not
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entirely without controversy was Windows 8 in 2012 which Microsoft designed to
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function on traditional desktop and laptops but also Tablet PCs with an
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interface designed to be more modern and cool with terminology like live
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tiles unfortunately this concept did not
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translate well to the millions of people who still used mice and keyboards and
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Windows 8 struggled to gain popularity I mean you can't just take away the start
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button and expect everybody to be okay with that maybe that's why Windows 8. 1
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was a free upgrade Microsoft's Hardware designed for Windows 8 did a little
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better though and I'm not talking about the ARM powerered Surface RT that Bond
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but about the full fat Surface tablets which were also introduced in 2012 since
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they ran full versions of Windows versus the more limited Mobile os's on
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competing tablets like the iPad Microsoft started to gain Traction in
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the mobile Computing scene in spite of
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NFL announc ERS calling them iPads as they watch coaches draw plays on the
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sidelines it was also in 2012 that Microsoft started signing people up for
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Microsoft accounts enabling a single
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signin across devices as part of its push to get users into the Microsoft
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ecosystem that included services like Office 365 its subscription based
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version of The Beloved productivity Suite One Drive cloud storage and Skype
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which it had purchased in 2011 indeed Microsoft made seamlessness between its
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own Services a priority with the launch of the Windows store alongside Windows 8
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as well as with the Xbox One in 2013
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which was hyped as a do-it-all living room box with enhanced connectivity with
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Windows rather than just another game
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console the concept was taken even further in 2015 with the new Windows 10
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featuring tight integration with the Cortana voice assistant Microsoft's
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answer to Siri and compatibility with
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the universal Windows platform which allows certain applications to run on
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both desktop and Mobile Windows as well
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as the Xbox One and Hollow lens a smart
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glasses product that Microsoft is currently trying to get off the ground
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of course with its fingers in so many different parts of the tech industry
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Microsoft is facing a lot more competition than it did 10 or 15 years
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years ago but could this mean that they'll be more consistent about
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producing quality products in the future with their feet to the fire maybe so but
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online services as though you are doing it from a different country they've got
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okay well Android PC and Mac they also have a Chrome extension just choose a
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country in the app turn it on and boom your connection gets encrypted and you
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appear to the websites and services that you're using as though you are someone
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else from somewhere else it takes all
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at tunnel bear .c down at the link in
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Linus thanks for watching guys like dislike leave a comment with suggestions
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