Profile

Microsoft is the biggest software company in the world. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. LinkedIn, its business-oriented social network, is used by millions to build professional connections, and Microsoft’s Xbox gaming systems continue to post record sales. Microsoft’s customers range from consumers and small businesses to the world’s biggest companies and government agencies.

In 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen, two boyhood friends from Seattle, launched the company in order to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. Microsoft quickly rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. In the 1990s, the company began to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web. Eventually Microsoft also moved into cloud computing with the Windows Azure platform. Azure is currently second behind Amazon for cloud services.

In June 2021 the software maker hit a staggering $2 trillion valuation. The milestone came on the heels of the company’s unveiling of Windows 11, its first new version of the flagship operating system in more than five years. The appreciation of the company’s stock price also reflects a rejuvenated company, one that has found substantial growth in cloud computing and through acquisitions.

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Key Products

Microsoft 365

This relatively-new application suite unites Microsoft’s stable of popular entities into one place. Users can effortlessly shift between Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more. Users have access to 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and can install 365 on any phone, tablet, or computer. All of this and more is integrated to cloud technology, with new version upgrades included under subscription.

Microsoft Office

Office encompasses all of Microsoft’s flagship software products, which can work together and share/reformat information seamlessly. Beyond the main line up, it also includes OneDrive, OneNote, Publisher, Outlook, and Access

Outlook

Microsoft’s email offering is one of the most widely-adopted on the market for business enterprises. The program can handle various personal data management tasks with features for appointments, tasks, notes, contacts, and much more.

OneDrive

This file hosting and synchronization service covers personal data and file storage. Users can harness extensive visual customizations, themes, and app settings for a tailored experience. The sync system settings feature makes for a harmonious integration of multiple system arrangements. All OneDrive assets are stored in a reliable cloud service that allows sharing any time, anywhere.

Microsoft Edge

Created for Windows 10, Microsoft’s perfected browser positions its lightweight structure to bring variety to device platform adoption. Edhe includes a host of features such as built-in support for voice-activated web assistant Cortana, Reading Lists and Reading Views for informed Web browsing, and a Microsoft OneNote that allows users to impermanently alter web pages at their convenience for sharing of notes and comments. Edge can also dynamically render Internet Explorer 11 in order to facilitate legacy website interactions.

Corporate Responsibility

Environmental Impact

The entire company has achieved carbon neutrality for its global operations since 2012, and has a 2030 goal to become carbon negative. Cloud-based technologies and sustainable business practices are helping Microsoft reach this criteria.

Other environmental pledges include being water positive and producing zero waste by 2030, in addition to restoring more land than is used by 2025.

Charitable Causes

To boost contributions to worthy nonprofits, Microsoft readily matches employee donations in the forms of money and time. Every October since 1983, the company’s Giving Campaign accounts for a large portion of annual fundraising.

In 2020 alone, employees donated $221 million to nonprofits, including company matching. 750,000 staffers volunteered for a total of over 750,000 hours.

The Hack for Good program leverages the solution technology of Microsoft with its employees’ diverse skill sets to empower nonprofits in their journeys.

For 17 years, Microsoft’s legal department and volunteers have engaged in pro bono work to aid disadvantaged parties.

Diversity & Inclusion

Improvement from 2019 includes a 1% increase to workforce representation for women, who now make up 28.6% of the international Microsoft team.

Black employees are 4.9% of the U.S. workforce, a number that is up 0.3% since 2019. Hispanic and Latinx employees experience an identical percentage gain, and comprise 6.6% of U.S. operations. 6.1% of Microsoft’s employee base self-identifies as having a disability.