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First-generation Microsoft SideWinder gamepad

Microsoft SideWinder is the general name given to the family of digital game controllers developed by Microsoft for PCs. Although intended only for use with Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SideWinder game controllers can also be used with Apple's Mac OS X and Linux (or any Unix with an x86 version of X11 version 2.1.xx or newer).

The term "SideWinder" describes many types of Microsoft's PC game controllers including joysticks, gamepads and steering wheels. Several types of joysticks were made, including the Force Feedback 2, the 3D Pro, and the regular SideWinder joystick. Also, several types of gamepads were made, such as the original game port version, a plug-and-play game port version, and the USB version. Steering wheels are the Precision Racing Wheel and the Force Feedback Wheel variants which include throttle and brake pedals.

The family also includes some more exotic devices such as the SideWinder Game Voice system and the SideWinder Strategic Commander.

The SideWinder family of products was discontinued by Microsoft in 2003, citing poor sales.^{[citation needed]} The company has since re-entered the gaming hardware market, in hopes of designing a standardized gamepad for Windows Vista with both the wired Xbox 360 controller and the Wireless Gaming Receiver that allows the use of the wireless Xbox 360 controller on the PC.

In August 2007, Microsoft announced they were relaunching the SideWinder line of gaming peripherals, starting with the SideWinder Mouse. The mouse was given an MSRP of $80 and a launch date of October 2007.

Comparison of SideWinder game controllers[link]

"Classic" SideWinder game controllers[link]

Gamepad[link]

The original Microsoft SideWinder gamepad had a digital directional pad, six fire buttons, two trigger buttons, and a "Mode" and "Start" button. The original gameport version had a pass-through, so additional joypads or joysticks could be used without unplugging the SideWinder, and also allowed the connection of up to four SideWinder gamepads working simultaneously. Newer USB versions of the SideWinder gamepad have a round digital directional pad instead of the more traditional cross-shaped directional pad, and lack the mode button. The Microsoft SideWinder's button layout is very similar to that of the Sega Saturn controller, which was released over the same time period.

The Gamepad features as a character (Ä) in the Webdings dingbat font.

3D Pro[link]

Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro Joystick

As Microsoft's first SideWinder joystick, the 3D Pro was responsible for setting the overall design as seen in all of Microsoft's future joysticks. Designed as a gaming-neutral joystick, rather than a specialized joystick for use with realistic combat flight simulators, the 3D Pro was built with a functional, but low-key geometric design. Intended to rival the other sticks from the time, the 3D Pro included 8 buttons - 4 on the base, 4 on the stick - an 8-way hat switch, a slider-based throttle, and the stick itself was twist able for Z/rudder/spin control. By going with a geometric design however, it meant the 3D Pro lacked an effective adherence ergonomic principles, making it unsuitable for long gaming sessions for some users.

Electronically, the 3D Pro used a digital/analog hybrid design, that was intended to correct the outstanding flaws in traditional analog joysticks, such as drift and CPU overhead by using a digital/optical tracking mechanism to keep perfect track of the joystick, and a digital communication method over the analog gameport.^[2] However, this digital mode required software support, and could not be used with many DOS games at the time (MechWarrior 2 being the only major exception), as most software and gameports were built completely around an analog design.

Additionally, some soundcard gameports, and so-called accelerated game-ports - which attempted to resolve CPU overhead issues presented by polling the gameport directly themselves - such as those produced by Gravis, wouldn't always be able to handle the stick in digital mode.

Fortunately, the 3D Pro had a unique feature in that it could fall-back to an 'analog emulation' mode, where it could emulate either a CH Flightstick Pro or a Thrustmaster FCS (Selectable by a switch on the base), in environments where the digital mode wouldn't work. In this mode, manual calibration was required, the four base-buttons no longer function and, the joystick would function essentially like a CH Flightstick Pro or Thrustmaster FCS depending on the mode selector switch.

However, on later operating systems the digital mode would be less and less reliable, and on modern PCs most 3D Pro owners can only run in analog mode. Fortunately, the 3D Pro was popular enough to spawn a successor, the Precision Pro, which was a USB device and, while it didn't work in DOS at all, was far more reliable under Windows despite quality issues.

The joystick was widely praised in its inception and was one of the few joysticks with multiple buttons that didn't require a keyboard pass-through. The stick was especially popular with MechWarrior and Descent players as it was one of the few multi-button joysticks supported by the games natively.

The joystick's popularity has created a small die-hard following, with many people still holding onto them despite their age. This resulted in the creation of a USB adapter for the 3D Pro.^[1]

The 3D Pro features as a character (Ã) in the Webdings dingbat font.

Precision Pro[link]

The Precision Pro joystick. The "hat" switch is visible at the top of the stick, and the throttle wheel at the bottom.

Learning from their past mistakes, Microsoft introduced the SideWinder Precision Pro in 1995, correcting the ergonomic issues, fixing some of the electrical issues, and adding new features.

The Precision Pro introduced a new stick that was far more ergonomic than the "geometric" design of the 3D Pro. Microsoft also gave the rest of the Precision Pro a more rounded design, replacing the rectangular base buttons with more rounded versions at the top of the base, the slider-based throttle with a wheel-based throttle, and the base itself was made more rounded. The Precision Pro also added a shift button to the base, doubling the number of possible button combinations.

Signatures can be seen inside the joystick, on the base coverplate. Fred Iyc and Edie Adams (User Experience Manager, Microsoft: http://www.affectivedesign.org/archives/151) are among the 17 people who have signed it.

For its electronics, the Precision Pro featured a refined hybrid system, resolving some of the hardware compatibility issues with the 3D Pro. However, with the widespread introduction of USB in consumer computers shortly after the Precision Pro was released, Microsoft soon re-released the joystick in a USB-compatible form (joysticks labeled as Part No. X03-57540, Product I.D. 85791-...^[3]). The revised joystick still featured a gameport connector but had additional circuitry for interfacing with USB, and was bundled with a USB converter (a DIY converter project exists). Original Precision Pros remain incompatible with this converter,^[4] a user made converter exists though.^[1] The creation of the USB converter bypassed the problems with the analog gameport entirely, and as a result became the true solution to the electrical problems. However, due to a flaw in the design of the Precision Pro, in rare cases the stick would build up a static charge in its electronics and require either a complex process to discharge that was not always successful, or simply needed to stay unpowered for a number of hours to slowly discharge on its own.^[5] This is also one of the first joysticks to use light sensors instead of potentiometers so it required no calibration, and thus had no electronical moving parts. The only moving parts were mechanical on the throttle and joystick pivots which gave this joystick virtually unlimited lifetime. The Precision Pro 2 had reintroduced potentiometers to save money and thus their lifetime was limited to wear and tear of the potentiometers.

Thanks to the timing of the launch of the Precision Pro to coincide with the widespread launch of USB along the ergonomic corrections and rarity of the static charge problem, the Precision Pro saw a much higher sales volume and review scores than the earlier 3D Pro.

Force Feedback Pro[link]

With the launch of the Precision Pro, Microsoft decided to also enter the fray of force feedback joysticks, with the introduction of the Force Feedback Pro. Built on the design of the Precision Pro, the Force Feedback Pro differed only in the inclusion of motors for the force feedback effects, and the lack of USB compatibility. Due to the inclusion of the motors, the Force Feedback Pro was significantly larger and heavier than the Precision Pro, making it easy to differentiate between the two.

Precision 2[link]

Microsoft SideWinder Precision 2 Joystick

The basis of Microsoft's last generation of SideWinder joysticks, the Precision 2 design was a further refinement of the previous Precision Pro. Compared to the Precision Pro, the Precision 2 dropped the Pro's shift button, replaced the throttle wheel with a more traditional lever, and rearranged the face buttons on the stick in to a symmetric design. The Precision 2 also dropped all gameport compatibility by only shipping in a USB version, and was slightly smaller and lighter than the Pro. Unfortunately, in spite of being Microsoft's 2nd-generation USB controller, the Precision 2 in particular seemed to suffer more from the USB SideWinder's long-standing static buildup problem than the original Precision Pro.

Force Feedback 2[link]

Along with replacing the Precision Pro with a new design, the Force Feedback Pro was replaced with a Precision 2 derivative, the Force Feedback 2. Compared to the Force Feedback Pro and the Precision 2, nothing new was added to the Force Feedback 2 that wasn't added to the Precision 2, in fact the shift button was taken away. The overall size and weight difference was not so great with the use of smaller motors. This joystick came in two varieties: one version with a silver trigger, and an updated version with a translucent red trigger. One of the main ideas in the Force Feedback 2 was the removal of the power brick.

Joystick[link]

Using the Precision 2 design once again, Microsoft introduced a value-oriented SideWinder joystick, simply called the SideWinder Joystick. In spite of its value designation, the SideWinder Joystick was functionally similar to the Precision 2. The main features dropped were Z-axis control and the 8-way hat switch. Otherwise the differences were cosmetic, including shrinking the base, moving the throttle to the front of the base, and replacing 2 of the rounded buttons on the stick with more rectangular buttons.

Force Feedback Wheel[link]

The Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel is a steering wheel controller for sim racing. It was the first wheel controller to contain force feedback. It lacks proper driver support for Windows Vista and Windows 7.^[6]

Strategic Commander[link]

The Strategic Commander is designed to complement a standard mouse/keyboard setup for Real Time Strategy games. It features a total of 6 programmable command buttons, 2 zoom buttons, 3 shift buttons, a macro record button and a 3-point configuration switch. The device also has three movement axes; X, Y and Z (rotation). Through extensive configuration of the shift and command buttons, it is possible to create a total of 24 different commands per configuration.

The Strategic Commander is a highly ergonomic device, and resembles a large mouse in shape, contoured for the left hand. It has an upper section attached to a base. On the upper section, the programmable buttons mentioned above are located near the tips of the index, middle and ring fingers for quick access. Three buttons are located near the thumb in an arc.

A feature of the device is that the upper section is also a 2-axis motion controller with additional support for rotation. It allows motion in the X, Y & Z axis (corresponding to Forward, Backwards, Strafe left & right, Turn left & right). This made it an ideal companion for FPS and similar games; because you can aim weapons or look up and down with the right hand while simultaneously slewing position with the left hand, and change weapons etc. with the left finger buttons.

Software was included for the device to provide hotkeys for a number of (then popular) games. The buttons are also programmable, allowing the device to be used with other games and applications. For example, one interesting application developed at Carnegie Mellon used the device as a peripheral for navigating massive social network maps.

Linux treats this device as a joystick (with all 3 axis and 12 plus 3 buttons) and can be used as one or using various applets can be used as a "joystick action to key press" device (e.g. Joy2Key)

Game Voice[link]

The Game Voice is an early voice chat device. It was shaped like a hockey puck, with four channel buttons that allowed the user to speak to individual teammates. It could also be set to communicate with the entire team, or globally to all players. The driver software also allowed it to function as a voice command device using programmable macros.

The package included a headset with an attached microphone, though these could be substituted with any other PC headset/microphone. The puck acted as an intermediary between the sound card and the sound input/output devices. The headset, along with the system speakers, plugged into the puck, where a switch could be used to set whether sound would be output from the speakers or the headset. The puck also had its own volume control. To provide power for the puck LEDs and drive the voice command and channel functions, a USB connection was also required.

Microsoft discontinued the product in 2003. By then, the market for voice chat had seen intense competition from downloadable and free-to-use software like Ventrilo and TeamSpeak, among others. These software packages only charge the host or server, whereas each person would have to own a Game Voice in order to use the hardware and software. As a result, the Game Voice ultimately lost that market. However, these competing software packages do not offer voice command systems.

Microsoft has not released the hardware specifications so that an open source driver could be developed. The device is supported under Windows XP, but no new driver is planned for Windows Vista. Fortunately Linux can use this HID device using various third party applets (i.e. Kamevoice)

Freestyle Pro[link]

SideWinder Freestyle Pro gamepad

The Freestyle Pro, released in 1998, was a rather novel gamepad, as the up-down-left-right directions in analogue mode were controlled by the movement of the controller, more precisely by the absolute pitch and roll position of the pad. This reaction on movement is quite similar to some of the features of the new Sony PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS. Games that did not punish washy control inputs such as Motocross Madness (which was bundled with the controller) profited from this physical interaction. But other games that heavily relied on precision (such as flight simulators) couldn't be controlled precisely with it - as movement was free and not limited by physical bounds as in a traditional analogue joystick/gamepad design, the user could not intuitively say if he moved the controller 100, 50, etc. percent in one direction. Even the "zero position" could not be precisely found, as retracting mechanisms could obviously not be built in.

The control pad had a total of ten digital fire buttons: six buttons controlled with the right thumb (named ABC XYZ), two shoulder buttons (one left, one right), and two buttons controlled with the left thumb, one named start, the other marked with a shift key symbol (as the SideWinder software allowed to use this button to shift controls for the ABC XYZ buttons - on the driver side, it was just an action button like the others).

The left thumb also controlled a D-pad which was rather useless when it came to fast and precise digital movement controls: the D-pad had to be pushed a far way until the action requested was finally registered, and the directions pressed were interpreted too washy (pressing left often resulted in the controller registering a diagonal left-down, for example - a problem that is crucial in versus fighting games). The endless steps throttle in the middle was also not perfectly thought-out: it behaved like an endless scroll wheel on the mechanical side, while the hardware driver assumed it to be an absolute value throttle – scrolling on and on in one direction only caused the hardware driver to rest in either zero percent or 100 percent throttle position.

A sensor button switched the control pad between analogue mode (green LED) and digital mode (red LED). In analogue mode, the x- and y-axis were controlled by the analogue controller movements, and the D-pad was used as a hat switch. In digital mode, the D-pad controlled the x- and y-axis like a traditional digital control pad (therefore, there was no hat switch function in digital mode).

Due to the release in 1998, at which time USB was just taking off, the Freestyle Pro supported both game port and USB connection. Without the adapter, the controller's cable ended in a game port plug. The sale box contained the Gameport-to-USB adapter for free.

Dual Strike[link]

The Dual Strike, which debuted in 1999, was Microsoft's second notable venture into strange gamepad designs, following the Freestyle Pro. The Dual Strike attempted to blend both mouse and gamepad functions into a single unit. It was composed of two portions; there is a hinge between the two that allows you to rotate the right side up and down and from side to side. The Dual Strike only supported USB.

SideWinder gaming mouse and keyboard[link]

In 2007, following a collaboration with Razer in creating the Microsoft Habu and Microsoft Reclusa, a gaming mouse and gaming keyboard sold under the plain Microsoft Hardware brand, Microsoft resurrected the SideWinder brand with an all-new SideWinder Mouse, designed from the ground up for high-end PC gaming. The design incorporated a number of advanced features including adjustable weights, programmable macro mode, on- the- fly DPI change, and a built-in LCD display, the first ever found in a mouse.

In 2008, Microsoft also released the SideWinder X6 Gaming Keyboard, which is designed to be the keyboard counter-part of the Sidewinder Mouse. It features up to 30 programmable macro keys, volume control, media control, a detachable numpad and backlighting. Along with this keyboard a new mouse was released dubbed the SideWinder X5. The X5 has a more basic functionset then its predecessor but was well received because of its lower price. Its shape is the same as the original but without the LCD, weight adjusting and metal side buttons. It also comes with a complete black design with red "LED Jets" on the back to make it stand out from the original and better fit the X6 keyboard.

In February 2009, Microsoft released another update to the SideWinder line, the SideWinder X8 gaming mouse. This new iteration incorporated new Microsoft BlueTrack tracking technology, intended to provide better tracking on non-standard surfaces. In addition, the mouse was made wireless, and the maximum DPI sensitivity was upped to 4000.[30]

In March 2010, Microsoft released a second gaming keyboard, the Sidewinder X4. In comparison with the earlier X6, anti-ghosting technology was added. However, the detachable numpad was removed.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Microsoft SideWinder Products homepage
• GameSpy article on PC joysticks for October 2002
• GameSpy article on PC wheels for November 2002
• SideWinder 3.02 software for Windows 95 and 98

	Microsoft portal
	Video games portal

Coordinates: 47°38′22.55″N 122°7′42.42″W / 47.6395972°N 122.12845°W / 47.6395972; -122.12845

Microsoft Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: MSFT SEHK: 4338 Dow Jones Industrial Average component NASDAQ-100 component S&P 500 component
Industry	Computer software Online services Video games
Founded	Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States (April 4, 1975 (1975-04-04))
Founder(s)	Paul Allen, Bill Gates
Headquarters	Microsoft Redmond Campus, Redmond, Washington, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Steve Ballmer (CEO) Bill Gates (Chairman)
Products	See listing
Services	See listing
Revenue	US$ 69.94 billion (2011)
Operating income	US$ 27.16 billion (2011)
Net income	US$ 23.15 billion (2011)
Total assets	US$ 108.7 billion (2011)
Total equity	US$ 57.08 billion (2011)
Employees	92,000 (2011)
Subsidiaries	List of Microsoft subsidiaries
Website	microsoft.com
References: [1]

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, United States that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. Microsoft is one of the largest software corporations in the world.

Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite market with Microsoft Office. The company has diversified into the video game industry with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles and the consumer electronics and digital services market MSN, the Zune and the Windows Phone OS. The ensuing rise of stock in the company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) made an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees (Forbes 400 list revealed that in March 2011 both Jon Shipley and Nathan Myhrvold lost their billionaire status). In May 2011, Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Communications for $8.5 billion.^[2]

Primarily in the 1990s, critics contend Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws. Known for its interviewing process with obscure questions, various studies and ratings were generally favorable to Microsoft's diversity within the company as well as its overall environmental impact with the exception of the electronics portion of the business.

History[link]

Early history[link]

Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion in computer programming, were seeking to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems's (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer. Allen noticed 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 didn't actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter. Although they developed the interpreter on a simulator and not the actual device, the interpreter worked flawlessly when they demonstrated the interpreter to MITS in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 1975; MITS agreed to distribute it, marketing it as Altair BASIC.^{[3]:108, 112–114} They officially established Microsoft on April 4, 1975, with Gates as the CEO.^[5] Allen came up with the original 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, "ASCII Microsoft".^[6] The company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979.^[5]

Microsoft Inc. logo history
Logo	Years
	Microsoft "blibbet" logo, filed August 26, 1982 at the USPTO and used until 1987.[7]
	Microsoft "Pac-Man" logo, designed by Scott Baker and used since 1987, with the 1994–2002 slogan "Where do you want to go today?".[8][9]
	Microsoft logo as of 2006–2011, with the slogan "Your potential. Our passion."[9]
	Logo by Microsoft with the slogan"Be What's Next." 2011–present.[10]

Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, called Xenix.^[11] However, it was MS-DOS that solidified the company's dominance. After negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the CP/M OS, which was set to be used in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC).^[12] For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, which IBM rebranded to PC-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 reverse engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles, but no such restriction applied to the operating systems. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOS's available software selection, Microsoft eventually became the leading PC operating systems vendor.^[4][13]:210 The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft Press.^[3]:232 Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in February after developing Hodgkin's disease.^[3]:231

1984–1994: Windows and Office[link]

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.^{[3]:242–243, 246} Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond on February 26, 1986, and on March 13 the company went public;^[14] the ensuing rise in the stock would make an estimated four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees.^[15] Due to the partnership with IBM, in 1990 the Federal Trade Commission set its eye on Microsoft for possible collusion; it marked the beginning of over a decade of legal clashes with the U.S. Government.^[16] Microsoft announced the release of its version of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on April 2, 1987;^{[3]:243–244} meanwhile, the company was at work on a 32-bit OS, Microsoft Windows NT, using ideas from OS/2; it shipped on July 21, 1993 with a new modular kernel and the Win32 application programming interface (API), making porting from 16-bit (MS-DOS-based) Windows easier. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated.^[17]

Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office, in 1990. The software bundled separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.^[3]:301 On May 22 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 with a streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor.^[18] Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective areas.^[19][20] Novell, a Word competitor from 1984–1986, filed a lawsuit years later claiming that Microsoft left part of its APIs undocumented in order to gain a competitive advantage.^[21]

On July 27, 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division filed a Competitive Impact Statement that said, in part: "Beginning in 1988, and continuing until July 15, 1994, Microsoft induced many OEMs to execute anti-competitive "per processor" licenses. Under a per processor license, an OEM pays Microsoft a royalty for each computer it sells containing a particular microprocessor, whether the OEM sells the computer with a Microsoft operating system or a non-Microsoft operating system. In effect, the royalty payment to Microsoft when no Microsoft product is being used acts as a penalty, or tax, on the OEM's use of a competing PC operating system. Since 1988, Microsoft's use of per processor licenses has increased."^[22]

1995–2005: Internet and the 32-bit era[link]

Bill Gates giving his deposition in 1998 for the United States v. Microsoft trial. Once the U.S. Department of Justice 1993 took over from the Federal Trade Commission, a protracted legal wrangling between Microsoft and the department ensued, resulting in various settlements and possible blocked mergers. Microsoft would point to companies such as AOL-Time Warner in its defense.^[16]

Following Bill Gates's internal "Internet Tidal Wave memo" on May 26, 1995 Microsoft began to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web.^[23] The company released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, featuring pre-emptive multitasking, a completely new user interface with a novel start button, and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API.^[24][25]:20 Windows 95 came bundled with the online service MSN, and for OEMs Internet Explorer, a web browser. Internet Explorer was not bundled with the retail Windows 95 boxes because the boxes were printed before the team finished the web browser, and instead was included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack.^[26] Branching out into new markets in 1996, Microsoft and NBC Universal created a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC.^[27] Microsoft created Windows CE 1.0, a new OS designed for devices with low memory and other constraints, such as personal digital assistants.^[28] In October 1997, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court, stating that Microsoft violated an agreement signed in 1994 and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.^{[3]:323–324}

Bill Gates handed over the CEO position on January 13, 2000 to Steve Ballmer, an old college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, creating a new position for himself as Chief Software Architect.^{[5][3]:111, 228} Various companies including Microsoft formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance in October 1999 to, among other things, increase security and protect intellectual property through identifying changes in hardware and software. Critics decry the alliance as a way to enforce indiscriminate restrictions over how consumers use software, and over how computers behave, a form of digital rights management; for example the scenario where a computer is not only secured for its owner, but also secured against its owner as well.^[29][30] On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of United States v. Microsoft,^[31] calling the company an "abusive monopoly";^[32] it settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004.^[14] On October 25, 2001 Microsoft released Windows XP, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT codebase.^[33] The company released the Xbox later that year, entering the game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo.^[34] In March 2004 the European Union brought antitrust legal action against the company, citing it abused its dominance with the Windows OS, resulting in a judgment of €497 million ($613 million) and to produce new versions of Windows XP without Windows Media Player, Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N.^[35][36]

2006–present: Windows Vista, mobile, SaaS[link]

CEO Steve Ballmer at the MIX event in 2008. In an interview about his management style in 2005, he mentioned that his first priority was to get the people he delegates to in order. Ballmer also emphasized the need to continue pursuing new technologies even if initial attempts fail, citing the original attempts with Windows as an example.^[37]

Released in January 2007, the next version of Windows, Windows Vista, focused on features, security, and a redesigned user interface dubbed Aero.^[38][39] Microsoft Office 2007, released at the same time, featured a "Ribbon" user interface which was a significant departure from its predecessors. Relatively strong sales of both titles helped to produce a record profit in 2007.^[40] The European Union imposed another fine of €899 million ($1.4 billion) for Microsoft's lack of compliance with the March 2004 judgment on February 27, 2008, saying that the company charged rivals unreasonable prices for key information about its workgroup and backoffice servers. Microsoft stated that it was in compliance and that "these fines are about the past issues that have been resolved".^[41]

Bill Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008 while retaining other positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for the company on key projects.^[42] Azure Services Platform, the company's entry into the cloud computing market for Windows, launched on October 27, 2008.^[43] On February 12, 2009, Microsoft announced its intent to open a chain of Microsoft-branded retail stores, and on October 22, 2009 the first retail Microsoft Store opened in Scottsdale, Arizona; the same day the first store opened Windows 7 was officially released to the public. Windows 7's focus was on refining Vista with ease of use features and performance enhancements, rather than a large reworking of Windows.^[44][45][46]

As the smartphone industry boomed beginning in 2007, Microsoft struggled to keep up with its rivals Apple and Google in providing a modern smartphone operating system. As a result, in 2010, Microsoft revamped their aging flagship mobile operating system, Windows Mobile, replacing it with the new Windows Phone OS; along with a new strategy in the smartphone industry that has Microsoft working more closely with smartphone manufactures, such as Nokia, and to provide a consistent user experience across all smartphones using Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.

Microsoft is a founding member of the Open Networking Foundation started on March 23, 2011. Other founding companies include Google, HP Networking, Yahoo, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and 17 other companies. The nonprofit organization is focused on providing support for a new cloud computing initiative called Software-Defined Networking.^[47] The initiative is meant to speed innovation through simple software changes in telecommunications networks, wireless networks, data centers and other networking areas.^[48]

In May 2012, Microsoft opened its social networking site So.cl to the general public. ^[49] On 31st May 2012, Microsoft released the final version of its next generation [Windows]] 8 software.It is designed to power devices ranging from tablets to desktop compters.^[50]

Product divisions[link]

For the 2010 fiscal year, Microsoft had five product divisions: Windows & Windows Live Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Division, and Entertainment and Devices Division.

Windows & Windows Live Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division[link]

The company's Client division produces the flagship Windows OS line such as Windows 7; it also produces the Windows Live family of products and services. Server and Tools produces the server versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as a set of development tools called Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Silverlight, a web application framework, and System Center Configuration Manager, a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other server products include: Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database management system, Microsoft Exchange Server, for certain business-oriented e-mail and scheduling features, Small Business Server, for messaging and other small business-oriented features; and Microsoft BizTalk Server, for business process management.

Microsoft provides IT consulting ("Microsoft Consulting Services") and produces a set of certification programs handled by the Server and Tools division designed to recognize individuals who have a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this includes developers ("Microsoft Certified Solution Developer"), system/network analysts ("Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer"), trainers ("Microsoft Certified Trainers") and administrators ("Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator" and "Microsoft Certified Database Administrator"). Microsoft Press, which publishes books, is also managed by the division. The Online Services Business division handles the online service MSN and the search engine Bing. As of December 2009, the company also possesses an 18% ownership of the cable news channel MSNBC without any editorial control; however, the division develops the channel's website, msnbc.com, in a joint venture with the channel's co-owner, NBC Universal.^[51]

Business Division[link]

The Commons, located on the campus of the company's headquarters in Redmond.

The Microsoft Business Division produces Microsoft Office including Microsoft Office 2010, the company's line of office software. The software product includes Word (a word processor), Access (a relational database program), Excel (a spreadsheet program), Outlook (Groupware, frequently used with Exchange Server), PowerPoint (presentation software), and Publisher (desktop publishing software). A number of other products were added later with the release of Office 2003 including Visio, Project, MapPoint, InfoPath and OneNote. The division also develops enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for companies under the Microsoft Dynamics brand. These include: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and Microsoft Dynamics SL. They are targeted at varying company types and countries, and limited to organizations with under 7,500 employees.^[52] Also included under the Dynamics brand is the customer relationship management software Microsoft Dynamics CRM, part of the Azure Services Platform.

Entertainment and Devices Division[link]

The Entertainment and Devices Division produces the Windows CE OS for embedded systems and Windows Phone for smartphones.^[53] Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for handheld devices, eventually developing into the Windows Mobile OS and now, Windows Phone. Windows CE is designed for devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular, appliances and cars. The division also produces computer games that run on Windows PCs and other systems including titles such as Age of Empires, Halo and the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, and houses the Macintosh Business Unit which produces Mac OS software including Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division designs, markets, and manufactures consumer electronics including the Xbox 360 game console, the handheld Zune media player, and the television-based Internet appliance MSN TV. Microsoft also markets personal computer hardware including mice, keyboards, and various game controllers such as joysticks and gamepads.

Culture[link]

Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software.^[54][55] In April 2004 Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, titled Channel9, that provides a wiki and an Internet forum.^[56] Another community site that provides daily videocasts and other services, On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006.^[57] Free technical support is traditionally provided through online Usenet newsgroups, and CompuServe in the past, monitored by Microsoft employees; there can be several newsgroups for a single product. Helpful people can be elected by peers or Microsoft employees for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status, which entitles them to a sort of special social status and possibilities for awards and other benefits.^[58]

Noted for its internal lexicon, the expression "eating our own dog food" is used to describe the policy of using prerelease and beta versions of products inside Microsoft in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations.^[59] This is usually shortened to just "dog food" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. Another bit of jargon, FYIFV or FYIV ("Fuck You, I'm [Fully] Vested"), is used by an employee to indicate they are financially independent and can avoid work anytime they wish.^[60] The company is also known for its hiring process, mimicked in other organizations and dubbed the "Microsoft interview", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a manhole cover round?".^[61]

Microsoft is an outspoken opponent of the cap on H1B visas, which allow companies in the U.S. to employ certain foreign workers. Bill Gates claims the cap on H1B visas makes it difficult to hire employees for the company, stating "I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap" in 2005.^[62] Critics of H1B visas argue that relaxing the limits would result in increased unemployment for U.S. citizens due to H1B workers working for lower salaries.^[63] The Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, a report of how progressive the organization deems company policies towards LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) employees, rated Microsoft as 87% from 2002 to 2004 and as 100% from 2005 to 2010 after they allowed gender expression.^[64]

Criticism[link]

Criticism of Microsoft has followed the company's existence because of various aspects of its products and business practices. Ease of use, stability, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. More recently, Trojan horses and other exploits have plagued numerous users due to faults in the security of Microsoft Windows and other programs. Microsoft is also accused of locking vendors into their products, and of not following and complying with existing standards in its software.^[65] Total cost of ownership comparisons of Linux as well as Mac OS X to Windows are a continuous point of debate.

The company has been in numerous lawsuits by several governments and other companies for unlawful monopolistic practices. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty in a highly publicized anti-trust case. Additionally, Microsoft's EULA for some of its programs is often criticized as being too restrictive as well as being against open source software.

Microsoft has been criticized (along with Yahoo, AOL, and other companies) for its involvement in censorship in the People's Republic of China.^[66] Microsoft has also come under criticism for outsourcing jobs to China and India.^[67][68][69] There were reports of poor working conditions at a factory in southern China that makes some of Microsoft's products.^[70]

Criticism of the company has resulted in it being deemed "the evil empire" by some.^[71] In a sci-fi allusion, Microsoft has also been called "The Borg" after the fictional race of aliens in the Star Trek universe. It reflects the perception that Microsoft often acquires technology from other companies rather than developing it in-house^[72], as well as to Microsoft's ability to adapt to and overwhelm its opponents' strategies. ^{[73][74][75][76][77][78]}

Corporate affairs[link]

The company is run by a board of directors made up of mostly company outsiders, as is customary for publicly traded companies. Members of the board of directors as of June 2010 are: Steve Ballmer, Dina Dublon, Bill Gates (chairman), Raymond Gilmartin, Reed Hastings, Maria Klawe, David Marquardt, Charles Noski, and Helmut Panke.^[79] Board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting using a majority vote system. There are five committees within the board which oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating antitrust laws.^[80]

Five year history graph of (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock on September 29, 2009.^[81]

When Microsoft went public and launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 1986, the opening stock price was $21; after the trading day, the price closed at $27.75. As of July 2010, with the company's nine stock splits, any IPO shares would be multiplied by 288; if one was to buy the IPO today given the splits and other factors, it would cost about 9 cents.^{[82][3]:235–236[83]} The stock price peaked in 1999 at around $119 ($60.928 adjusting for splits).^[84] The company began to offer a dividend on January 16, 2003, starting at eight cents per share for the fiscal year followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year, switching from yearly to quarterly dividends in 2005 with eight cents a share per quarter and a special one-time payout of three dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year.^[84][85] Though the company had subsequent increases in dividend payouts, the price of Microsoft's stock remained steady for years.^[85][86]

One of Microsoft's business tactics, described by an executive as "embrace, extend and extinguish," initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it to produce their own version which is then incompatible with the standard, which in time extinguishes competition that does not or cannot use Microsoft's new version.^[87] Various companies and governments sue Microsoft over this set of tactics, resulting in billions of dollars in rulings against the company.^[88][31][36] Microsoft claims that the original strategy is not anti-competitive, but rather an exercise of its discretion to implement features it believes customers want.^[89]

Financial[link]

Standard and Poor's and Moody's have both given a AAA rating to Microsoft, whose assets were valued at $41 billion as compared to only $8.5 billion in unsecured debt. Consequently, in February 2011 Microsoft released a corporate bond amounting to $2.25 billion with relatively low borrowing rates compared to government bonds.^[90]

For the first time in 20 years Apple Inc. surpassed Microsoft in Q1 2011 quarterly profits and revenues due to a slowdown in PC sales and continuing huge losses in Microsoft's Online Services Division (which contains its search engine Bing). Microsoft profits were $5.2 billion, while Apple Inc. profits were $6 billion, on revenues of $14.5 billion and $24.7 billion respectively.^[91]

Microsoft's Online Services Division has been continuously loss-making since 2006 and in Q1 2011 it lost $726 million. This follows a loss of $2.5 billion for the year 2010.^[92]

Environment[link]

Microsoft is ranked on the 17th place in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics (16th Edition) that ranks 18 electronics manufacturers according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change.^[93] Microsoft’s timeline for phasing out BFRs and phthalates in all products is 2012 but its commitment to phasing out PVC is not clear. As yet (January 2011) it has no products that are completely free from PVC and BFRs.^[94]

Microsoft's main U.S. campus received a silver certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program in 2008, and it installed over 2,000 solar panels on top of its buildings in its Silicon Valley campus, generating approximately 15 percent of the total energy needed by the facilities in April 2005.^[95]

Microsoft makes use of alternative forms of transit. It created one of the worlds largest private bus systems, the "Connector", to transport people from outside the company; for on-campus transportation, the "Shuttle Connect" uses a large fleet of hybrid cars to save fuel. The company also subsidises regional public transport as an incentive.^[95][96] In February 2010 however, Microsoft took a stance against adding additional public transport and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to a bridge connecting Redmond to Seattle; the company did not want to delay the construction any further.^[97]

Microsoft was ranked number 1 in the list of the World's Best Multinational Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2011.^[98]

Marketing[link]

In 2004, Microsoft commissioned research firms to do independent studies comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows Server 2003 to Linux; the firms concluded that companies found Windows easier to administrate than Linux, thus those using Windows would administrate faster resulting in lower costs for their company (i.e. lower TCO).^[99] This spurred a wave of related studies; a study by the Yankee Group concluded that upgrading from one version of Windows Server to another costs a fraction of the switching costs from Windows Server to Linux, although companies surveyed noted the increased security and reliability of Linux servers and concern about being locked into using Microsoft products.^[100] Another study, released by the OSDL, claimed that the Microsoft studies were "simply outdated and one-sided" and their survey concluded that the TCO of Linux was lower due to Linux administrators managing more servers on average and other reasons.^[101]

As part of the "Get the Facts" campaign Microsoft highlighted the .NET trading platform that it had developed in partnership with Accenture for the London Stock Exchange, claiming that it provided "five nines" reliability. After suffering extended downtime and unreliability^[102][103] the LSE announced in 2009 that it was planning to drop its Microsoft solution and switch to a Linux based one in 2010.^[104][105]

Microsoft adopted the so-called "Pac-Man Logo", designed by Scott Baker, in 1987. Baker stated "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the o and s  to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed."^[106] Dave Norris ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter O, nicknamed the blibbet, but it was discarded.^[107] Microsoft's logo with the "Your potential. Our passion." tagline below the main corporate name, is based on a slogan Microsoft used in 2008. In 2002, the company started using the logo in the United States and eventually started a TV campaign with the slogan, changed from the previous tagline of "Where do you want to go today?".^[8][9][108] During the private MGX (Microsoft Global Exchange) conference in 2010, Microsoft unveiled the company's next tagline, "Be What's Next.".^[10]

See also[link]

	Microsoft portal
	Xbox portal
	Companies portal
	Seattle portal

• List of Microsoft topics

References[link]