Microsoft Corporation is a leading American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded on April 4, 1975, by [[😊 Bill Gates|Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]], Microsoft initially gained prominence by developing and selling BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. The company rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with [[MS-DOS]] in the mid-1980s, followed by the [[Microsoft Windows]] line of operating systems. Over the years, Microsoft has diversified its product and service offerings. Its best-known software products include the [[Microsoft Office]] suite and the [[Microsoft 365]] suite of productivity applications, which encompass [[Word]], [[Excel]], and [[Outlook]]. In the hardware sector, Microsoft develops and sells the Surface lineup of personal computers and the [[Xbox]] series of video game consoles. The company also provides a range of consumer internet services such as the [[Bing]] web search engine, the MSN web portal, and the Outlook.com email service. In the enterprise and development fields, Microsoft offers the [[Azure]] cloud computing platform, Microsoft SQL Server database software, and [[Visual Studio]]. Under the leadership of CEO [[😊 Satya Nadella|Satya Nadella]] since 2014, Microsoft has shifted its focus toward [[cloud computing]] and has made significant acquisitions to bolster its position in various markets. Notably, the company acquired [[🏦 Linkedin|LinkedIn]] in 2016 for $26.2 billion and completed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023 for $68.7 billion, enhancing its presence in the professional networking and gaming industries, respectively. And huge investments into [[🏦 OpenAI|OpenAI]].