Bill Gates: Phasing Out & His Legacy

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates announced recently that he’s phasing out his day to day duties at Microsoft over the next 2 years and after that will start his next project, spending his $17 billion charity trust fund in 3rd World countries. So with his time as a major influence on the company that he created coming to an end lets have a look at his operating software legacy.

1975 - Microsoft (or Micro Soft as they were known) create a version of BASIC for the 1st affordable micro computer - the Altair8800.

1977 - Microsoft sells BASIC to more companies such as Commodore, Apple and Tandy.

1980 - Microsoft agree licensing deal with IBM for MS-DOS, which was based on QDOS (quick & dirty operating system) which Microsoft purchased for $56,000 from a small Seattle software house.

1985 - Microsoft release MS Windows V1 for IBM compatible PCs. It isnt very well received but gains market share through lack of competition and Microsoft exploiting thier relations with manufacturers.

1990 - Windows 3.0 released, an important mile stone as it was the first version of Windows to be well received by users, cementing Microsoft’s dominance of the market.

1995 - Windows 95 released, a revolution in how Windows worked and the first step to full integration in Windows.

1996 - Windows NT 4 released. Based on Windows 95’s GUI but lacking many of Windows 95’s media features but more stable and very popular with business.

1998 - Windows 98 released, originally called Windows 97 and renamed after numerous delays, the system is released in a very unstable form which wouldnt be rectified until Windows 98 SE was released a few months later.

2000 - Windows 2000 released, generally seen as the dawn of a new era as it gave Windows NT full functionality with Direct X enabling full multimedia on a very stable platform. Windows ME released, largely derided due to being buggy and offering very little in the way of enhancments over Windows 98 SE.

2001 - Windows XP released. Based upon Windows 2000, Windows XP was initially troubled by poor reliability, but the platform has matured exceptionally well to provide a universal platform for the PC. This has also been one of Microsoft’s longest lived platforms, with it’s successor, Windows Vista being pushed back into 2007 due to development issues.

Along the way there have been a few failures, such as Microsoft BOB (a Windows 3.1 version of the annoying paper clip assitant thingy), SPOT watches (a computer in a watch, very expensive with no software that you would actually want), and a lot of other projects with a grand vision that never really panned out, such as Microsoft TV.

It’s without doubt that Bill Gates and Microsoft have changed the world, some might say for the better as it has created a virtually universal platform for creating content for PCs, others might argue that Microsoft’s monopoly stifles innovation and gives one company too much power. At the end of the day Bill Gates has become to the richest man in the world from it all so he must be doing something right.