1.
Microsoft
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Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup, as of 2016, it was the worlds largest software maker by revenue, and one of the worlds most valuable companies. Microsoft was founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates on April 4,1975, to develop and it rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. The companys 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion, in June 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer production market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, a line of tablet computers. The word Microsoft is a portmanteau of microcomputer and software, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion for computer programming, sought to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. In 1972 they founded their first company, named Traf-O-Data, which offered a computer that tracked and analyzed automobile traffic data. Allen went on to pursue a degree in science at Washington State University. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systemss Altair 8800 microcomputer, Allen suggested that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device, after a call from Gates claiming to have a working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didnt actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter and they officially established Microsoft on April 4,1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the name of Micro-Soft, as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, the company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979. Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, however, it was MS-DOS that solidified the companys dominance. For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOSs available software selection, the company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as with a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing Hodgkins disease, while jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20,1985. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated, in 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office
2.
Internet
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The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite to link devices worldwide. The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by the United States federal government in the 1960s to build robust, the primary precursor network, the ARPANET, initially served as a backbone for interconnection of regional academic and military networks in the 1980s. Although the Internet was widely used by academia since the 1980s, Internet use grew rapidly in the West from the mid-1990s and from the late 1990s in the developing world. In the two decades since then, Internet use has grown 100-times, measured for the period of one year, newspaper, book, and other print publishing are adapting to website technology, or are reshaped into blogging, web feeds and online news aggregators. The entertainment industry was initially the fastest growing segment on the Internet, the Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries, the Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage, each constituent network sets its own policies. The term Internet, when used to refer to the global system of interconnected Internet Protocol networks, is a proper noun. In common use and the media, it is not capitalized. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized when used as a noun, the Internet is also often referred to as the Net, as a short form of network. Historically, as early as 1849, the word internetted was used uncapitalized as an adjective, the designers of early computer networks used internet both as a noun and as a verb in shorthand form of internetwork or internetworking, meaning interconnecting computer networks. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably in everyday speech, however, the World Wide Web or the Web is only one of a large number of Internet services. The Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other web resources, linked by hyperlinks, the term Interweb is a portmanteau of Internet and World Wide Web typically used sarcastically to parody a technically unsavvy user. The ARPANET project led to the development of protocols for internetworking, the third site was the Culler-Fried Interactive Mathematics Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by the University of Utah Graphics Department. In an early sign of growth, fifteen sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks, early international collaborations on the ARPANET were rare. European developers were concerned with developing the X.25 networks, in December 1974, RFC675, by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine, used the term internet as a shorthand for internetworking and later RFCs repeated this use. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation funded the Computer Science Network, in 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite was standardized, which permitted worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.5 Mbit/s and 45 Mbit/s. Commercial Internet service providers emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990
3.
Android (operating system)
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Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition to devices, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars. Variants of Android are also used on notebooks, game consoles, digital cameras, beginning with the first commercial Android device in September 2008, the operating system has gone through multiple major releases, with the current version being 7.0 Nougat, released in August 2016. Android applications can be downloaded from the Google Play store, which features over 2.7 million apps as of February 2017, Android has been the best-selling OS on tablets since 2013, and runs on the vast majority of smartphones. In September 2015, Android had 1.4 billion monthly active users, Android is popular with technology companies that require a ready-made, low-cost and customizable operating system for high-tech devices. The success of Android has made it a target for patent, Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Rubin described the Android project as tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are aware of its owners location. The early intentions of the company were to develop an operating system for digital cameras. Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly and that same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope. In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million and its key employees, including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was known about Android at the time, with Rubin having only stated that they were making software for mobile phones, at Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradeable system, Google had lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation. Speculation about Googles intention to enter the communications market continued to build through December 2006. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony, the first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23,2008. Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have improved the operating system, adding new features. Each major release is named in order after a dessert or sugary treat, with the first few Android versions being called Cupcake, Donut, Eclair. In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices, a lineup in which Google partnered with different device manufacturers to produce new devices and introduce new Android versions
4.
Microsoft Store
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Microsoft Store is a chain of retail stores and an online shopping site, owned and operated by Microsoft and dealing in computers, computer software and consumer electronics. The stores aim to improve the PC and Microsoft retail purchase experience for consumers worldwide and help make more informed decisions about their PC. The Microsoft Store offers Signature PCs and tablets like the Microsoft Surface and from third parties such as HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and Sony without demos or trialware. It also offers Windows, Microsoft Office, mobile devices running the Windows Phone OS, Xbox 360, the Answers Desk helps to answer questions related to Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. The stores also offer class sessions as well as individual appointments, the first two Microsoft Stores opened within a week of the Windows 7 launch, in Scottsdale, Arizona and Mission Viejo, California. Additional stores have opened in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas. At the 2011 Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft announced that they intend to open 75 new stores in the three years. The first store outside the U. S and it was owned and operated by Sony Retail Entertainment, and ran from 1999 to 2001. In 2009, Microsoft built a Retail Experience Center in their Redmond, WA headquarters, on October 22,2009, the same day as the Windows 7 launch, Microsoft opened a retail store in Scottsdale, Arizona. A week later, another opened in Mission Viejo, California, five additional stores were opened in 2010. A ninth store opened in Atlanta in May 2011, with two more planned in Houston and Los Angeles by the end of June. The Microsoft Store is similar to the popular Apple Store concept, the concept aims to give a greater level of customer satisfaction by not only having sales staff but also employing Technical Advisers to assist customers with technical questions and issues. In addition Specialists are employed to show customers how to get the most out of their software, Xbox One consoles are also available to entertain patrons. Microsoft Store Online is the store of Microsoft and is the successor of Windows Marketplace. It sells Microsoft software and hardware, as well as Microsoft Signature PCs and select third-party software, besides the online storefront, items from the store can be ordered by phone. The website is in 228 markets worldwide, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States. The stores in Europe are able to accept orders from, the Microsoft Store offers immediate software download options of some Microsoft software products in most regions. On February 12,2012 it was reported that Microsofts India online store was hacked, the team has stolen login IDs and passwords of users who had used the website for shopping
5.
Microsoft Surface
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Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen Windows personal computers and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft. The devices are manufactured by Pegatron and are designed to be devices that set examples to Windows OEMs. It comprises four generations of hybrid tablets, 2-in-1 detachable notebooks, a convertible desktop all-in-one, an interactive whiteboard, with the exception of the first-generation Surface and Surface 2, all Surface PCs use Intel processors and are compatible with Microsofts Windows 10 operating system. The Surface family features five lines of devices, The Surface line of hybrid tablets, with optional detachable keyboard accessories. The latest model, the Surface 3, uses an Intel Atom SoC processor, the Surface Pro line of professional hybrid tablets, use similar optional detachable keyboard accessories. The latest Surface Pro 4 uses a 6th generation Intel Core i Series processors, the Surface Book, a notebook with a detachable screen. The base is configurable with/without discrete graphics and an independently operable screen with support for the included stylus, the Surface Studio, a 28-inch all-in-one desktop that adjusts into a digital drafting table with stylus and on-screen Surface Dial support. The Surface Hub, a screen interactive whiteboard designed for collaboration. The 2012 Surface tablet launched alongside the general availability release of Windows 8 on October 26,2012, Surface Pro became available on February 9,2013. Surface devices were available only at Microsoft Stores and online. According to then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the spot for the bulk of the PC market was $300 to $800. On October 16, the pricing was revealed for the Surface, in November 2012, Steve Ballmer described the distribution approach to Surface as modest. On November 29,2012, Microsoft revealed the pricing for the two versions of Surface with Windows 8 Pro, the tablet would go on sale on February 9,2013, in the United States and Canada. A launch event was set to be held on February 8,2013, the 128GB version of the tablet sold out on the same day as its release. There was less demand for the 64GB version, because of the smaller available storage capacity. On September 23,2013, Microsoft announced the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, the Surface 2 launched October 22,2013, alongside the Surface Pro 2, four days after the general availability of Windows 8.1. Later, Microsoft launched a variation of the Surface 2 with LTE connectivity for the AT&T network on March 18,2014, Microsoft then announced the redesigned Surface Pro 3 on May 20,2014, which went on sale on June 20,2014. The following year, on March 30,2015, it announced the Surface 3, a more compact version of the Surface Pro 3
6.
Xbox
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Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. It represents a series of game consoles developed by Microsoft. The brand also represents applications, streaming services, and a service by the name of Xbox Live. The brand was first introduced on November 15,2001 in the United States and that original device was the first video game console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. It reached over 24 million units sold as of May 10,2006, Microsofts second console, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005 and has sold over 77.2 million consoles worldwide as of April 18,2013. The successor to the Xbox 360 and Microsofts most recent console, the Xbox One has been released in 21 markets in total, with a Chinese release on September 29,2014. The head of Xbox is Phil Spencer, who succeeded former head Marc Whitten in late March 2014. The original Xbox was released on November 15,2001, in North America, February 22,2002, in Japan and it was Microsofts first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sonys PlayStation 2, Segas Dreamcast, the Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box, the integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online with or without a broadband connection. It first competed with Dreamcasts online service but later competed with PlayStation 2s online service. The Xbox 360 was released as the successor of the original Xbox in November 2005, competing with Sonys PlayStation 3, as of June 30,2013,78.2 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the console sold out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan. Microsoft also released Kinect, a control system for the Xbox 360 which uses an advanced sensor system. At their E3 presentation on June 14,2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360 that would ship on the same day, older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued. The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, the Xbox One was released on November 22,2013 in North America, as the successor of the Xbox 360. The Xbox One competes with Sonys PlayStation 4 and Nintendos Wii U as part of the generation of video game consoles. After an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and consumers, Microsoft announced that these restrictions would be dropped, as a gesture toward showing a commitment to user privacy, Microsoft decided to allow the console to function without Kinect
7.
MacOS
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Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS after Microsoft Windows. Launched in 2001 as Mac OS X, the series is the latest in the family of Macintosh operating systems, Mac OS X succeeded classic Mac OS, which was introduced in 1984, and the final release of which was Mac OS9 in 1999. An initial, early version of the system, Mac OS X Server 1.0, was released in 1999, the first desktop version, Mac OS X10.0, followed in March 2001. In 2012, Apple rebranded Mac OS X to OS X. Releases were code named after big cats from the release up until OS X10.8 Mountain Lion. Beginning in 2013 with OS X10.9 Mavericks, releases have been named after landmarks in California, in 2016, Apple rebranded OS X to macOS, adopting the nomenclature that it uses for their other operating systems, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The latest version of macOS is macOS10.12 Sierra, macOS is based on technologies developed at NeXT between 1985 and 1997, when Apple acquired the company. The X in Mac OS X and OS X is pronounced ten, macOS shares its Unix-based core, named Darwin, and many of its frameworks with iOS, tvOS and watchOS. A heavily modified version of Mac OS X10.4 Tiger was used for the first-generation Apple TV, Apple also used to have a separate line of releases of Mac OS X designed for servers. Beginning with Mac OS X10.7 Lion, the functions were made available as a separate package on the Mac App Store. Releases of Mac OS X from 1999 to 2005 can run only on the PowerPC-based Macs from the time period, Mac OS X10.5 Leopard was released as a Universal binary, meaning the installer disc supported both Intel and PowerPC processors. In 2009, Apple released Mac OS X10.6 Snow Leopard, in 2011, Apple released Mac OS X10.7 Lion, which no longer supported 32-bit Intel processors and also did not include Rosetta. All versions of the system released since then run exclusively on 64-bit Intel CPUs, the heritage of what would become macOS had originated at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs following his departure from Apple in 1985. There, the Unix-like NeXTSTEP operating system was developed, and then launched in 1989 and its graphical user interface was built on top of an object-oriented GUI toolkit using the Objective-C programming language. This led Apple to purchase NeXT in 1996, allowing NeXTSTEP, then called OPENSTEP, previous Macintosh operating systems were named using Arabic numerals, e. g. Mac OS8 and Mac OS9. The letter X in Mac OS Xs name refers to the number 10 and it is therefore correctly pronounced ten /ˈtɛn/ in this context. However, a common mispronunciation is X /ˈɛks/, consumer releases of Mac OS X included more backward compatibility. Mac OS applications could be rewritten to run natively via the Carbon API, the consumer version of Mac OS X was launched in 2001 with Mac OS X10.0. Reviews were variable, with praise for its sophisticated, glossy Aqua interface
8.
Microsoft PowerPoint
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Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program currently developed by Microsoft, for use on both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems. PowerPoint, initially named Presenter, was created by Forethought Inc, Microsofts version of PowerPoint was officially launched on May 22,1990, as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. PowerPoint is useful for helping develop the slide-based presentation format and is one of the most commonly used slide-based presentation programs available. Microsoft has also released the PowerPoint mobile application for use on Apple, originally designed for the Macintosh computer, the initial release was called Presenter, developed by Thomas Rudkin and Dennis Austin of Forethought, Inc. In 1987, it was renamed to PowerPoint due to problems with trademarks, by then some experts believed that desktop presentations, using computers to create flip charts and overhead transparencies, could become as large a market as desktop publishing. That year Forethought was bought by Microsoft for $14 million, and became Microsofts Graphics Business Unit, Microsofts version of PowerPoint was officially launched on May 22,1990, the same day that Microsoft released Windows 3.0. PowerPoint introduced many new changes with the release of PowerPoint 97 and it incorporated the Visual Basic for Applications language, underlying all macro generation in Office 97. PowerPoint 2000 introduced a clipboard that could hold objects at once. PowerPoint 2002 massively overhauled the engine, allowing users to create more advanced. PowerPoint 2011 makes it possible to remove image backgrounds, and provides additional effects for pictures. As of 2012, various versions of PowerPoint claim about 95% of the software market share. Among presenters world-wide, this program is used at a frequency of 350 times per second. PowerPoint presentations consist of a number of pages or slides. The slide analogy is a reference to the slide projector, slides may contain text, graphics, sound, movies, and other objects, which may be arranged freely. The presentation can be printed, displayed live on a computer, for larger audiences the computer display is often a video projector. Slides can also form the basis of webcasts, PowerPoint provides three types of movements, Entrance, emphasis, and exit of elements on a slide itself are controlled by what PowerPoint calls Custom Animations. Transitions, on the hand, there are movements between slides. These can be animated in a variety of ways, Custom animation can be used to create small story boards by animating pictures to enter, exit or move
9.
Bing (search engine)
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Bing is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. The service has its origins in Microsofts previous search engines, MSN Search, Windows Live Search, Bing provides a variety of search services, including web, video, image and map search products. Bing, Microsofts replacement for Live Search, was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 28,2009, at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego, California, in July 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo. announced a deal in which Bing would power Yahoo. Search global customers and partners made the transition by early 2012, the deal was altered in 2015, meaning Yahoo. was only required to use Bing for a majority of searches. In October 2011, Microsoft stated that they were working on new back-end search infrastructure with the goal of delivering faster, known as Tiger, the new index-serving technology had been incorporated into Bing globally since August that year. In May 2012, Microsoft announced another redesign of its engine that includes Sidebar. As of November 2015, Bing is the second largest search engine in the US with a volume of 20. 9%. Search, which Bing largely powers, has 12. 5%, Microsoft originally launched MSN Search in the third quarter of 1998, using search results from Inktomi. It consisted of an engine, index, and web crawler. In early 1999, MSN Search launched a version which displayed listings from Looksmart blended with results from Inktomi except for a time in 1999 when results from AltaVista were used instead. Since then Microsoft upgraded MSN Search to provide its own search engine results. The upgrade started as a program in November 2004. Image search was powered by a party, Picsearch. The service also started providing its search results to other search engine portals in an effort to compete in the market. The first public beta of Windows Live Search was unveiled on March 8,2006, the new search engine used search tabs that include Web, news, images, music, desktop, local, and Microsoft Encarta. On March 21,2007, Microsoft announced that it would separate its search developments from the Windows Live services family, Live Search was integrated into the Live Search and Ad Platform headed by Satya Nadella, part of Microsofts Platform and Systems division. As part of change, Live Search was merged with Microsoft adCenter. A series of reorganisations and consolidations of Microsofts search offerings were made under the Live Search branding, soon after, Windows Live Expo was discontinued on July 31,2008
10.
Minecraft
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Minecraft is a sandbox video game originally created and designed by Swedish game designer Markus Notch Persson, and later fully developed and published by Mojang. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft enable players to build out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include exploration, resource gathering, crafting, the PC version of the game is noted for its modding scene, where a dedicated community creates new gameplay mechanics, items, and assets for the game. Minecraft received praise from critics, and won awards and accolades. As of February 2017, over 121 million copies have been sold across all platforms, making it the second best-selling video game of all time, only behind the various releases of Tetris. In September 2014, Microsoft announced a deal to buy Mojang, Minecraft is a three-dimensional sandbox game that has no specific goals for the player to accomplish, allowing players a great amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. However, there is an achievement system, gameplay by default is first person, but players have the option to play in third person mode. The core gameplay revolves around breaking and placing blocks, the game world is composed of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes—arranged in a fixed grid pattern and representing different materials, such as dirt, stone, various ores, water, lava, tree trunks, etc. While players can move freely across the world, objects can only be placed at fixed locations on the grid, players can gather these material blocks and place them elsewhere, thus allowing for various constructions. At the start of the game, the player is placed on the surface of a procedurally generated, the world is divided into biomes ranging from deserts to jungles to snowfields. Players can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, forests, caves, the in-game time system follows a day and night cycle, with one full cycle lasting 20 real-time minutes. Throughout the course of the game, players encounter various non-player characters known as mobs, including animals, villagers, non-hostile animals—such as cows, pigs, and chickens—can be hunted for food and crafting materials, and spawn in the daytime. By contrast, hostile mobs—such as large spiders, skeletons, and zombies—spawn during nighttime or in dark places, such as caves. The game world is generated as players explore it, using a map seed which is obtained from the system clock at the time of world creation unless manually specified by the player. The game achieves this by splitting the world data into smaller sections called chunks. The games physics system has often described by commentators as unrealistic. Most solid blocks are not affected by gravity, liquids flow from a source block, which can be removed by placing a solid block in its place, or by scooping it into a bucket. Complex systems can be built using mechanical devices, electrical circuits
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