# Microsoft

> The company of Windows and Office, now just as much a cloud company with Azure.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Tech companies, Cloud
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/microsoft/
- In Spanish: [Microsoft](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/microsoft/)

**Microsoft** was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and grew by selling software for personal computers: first MS-DOS, then **Windows**, which became the operating system of most office and home PCs, and **Office** (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). It is based in Redmond, near Seattle.

Its biggest shift was from selling software in a box to renting it by subscription. Office became **Microsoft 365**, paid monthly per person, and companies also pay for Teams, Outlook email and the tools that manage employees' accounts and devices. Most of its customers are businesses and governments, which is why Microsoft matters even to people who never think about it: their employer probably runs on it.

The other half is **Azure**, its cloud, one of the largest next to AWS: companies rent servers, databases and AI services in Microsoft's data centers. Microsoft has been a major investor in and partner of OpenAI since 2019; OpenAI's models run on Azure and power Microsoft's **Copilot** assistants inside Windows, Office and GitHub. It also owns GitHub, where most open source code lives, LinkedIn, and the Xbox gaming business.

## An analogy

The company that supplies an office building with its desks, filing cabinets and phones, and rents them by the month instead of selling them. Lately it also rents out the building's back rooms full of computers to anyone who needs them.

## Keep in mind

- Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen; based in Redmond, Washington.
- Windows and Microsoft 365 (Office) are sold mostly to businesses, by subscription.
- Azure is one of the largest clouds and runs OpenAI's models.
- It also owns GitHub, LinkedIn and Xbox.

## Go deeper

- [Azure documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/)
- [About GitHub](https://github.com/about)
- [Microsoft on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft)

## Related terms

- [Operating system](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/operating-system/): The base software that runs a device and lets every app share its hardware.
- [Spreadsheet vs database](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/spreadsheet-vs-database/): Why a company that runs on Excel eventually needs a real database.
- [Cloud computing](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/cloud-computing/): Renting computers over the internet instead of buying your own.
- [Server](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/server/): A computer whose job is to answer requests from other computers, all day, every day.
- [Database](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/database/): An organized store of data that programs can search and update safely.
- [Artificial intelligence](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/artificial-intelligence/): Getting computers to do things that, until recently, only people could do.
- [Data center](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/data-center/): A building full of servers where the internet, the cloud and AI actually run.
- [OpenAI](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/openai/): The company that made ChatGPT and turned AI into a household topic.