INTEL

INTEL IS THE WORLD LARGEST COMPANY AND INVENTOR OF MICROPROSSECER.
INTEL WAS ESTABILEHSED IN 1968.IT ALSO MAKES CHIPSETS AND ICS.IT IS LARGESET IN WORLD IN SOFTWARE COMPANY

INTELis the world's largest company and the inventor of the series of microprocessors, the processors found in manyFounded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation and based in , Intel also makes chipsets, and ICs, , graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers and, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its processor household names.Intel was an early developer of and memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until the early 1980s. While Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the creation of the (PC) that this became their primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs and in fostering the rapid growth of the PC industry. During this period Intel became the de facto monopoly supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive tactics in defense of its market position, as well as a struggle with for control over the direction of the PC industry.By the early 2000s, Microsoft had passed Intel in power in the PC industry, and competitors had emerged in the advanced microprocessor market. Intel's November 2006 stock market capitalization was less than one-quarter of its 2000 high, and only 40% of Microsoft's.HISTORYIntel was founded in 1968 by (a physicist and co-inventor of the ) when they left. A number of other Fairchild employees also went on to participate in other Silicon Valley companies. Intel's fourth employee was ), who ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s. Grove is now remembered as the company's key business and strategic leader. By the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the largest and most successful businesses in the world, though fierce competition within the semiconductor industry has since diminished its position.Intel has grown through several distinct phases. At its founding, Intel was distinguished simply by its ability to make semiconductors, and its primary product were (SRAM) chips. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices. While Intel created the in 1971, by the early 1980s its business was dominated by chips. However, increased competition from semiconductor manufacturers had by 1983 dramatically reduced the profitability of this market, and the sudden success of the convinced then-CEO Grove to shift the company's focus to microprocessors and to change fundamental aspects of that business model. By the end of the 1980s this decision had proven successful, and Intel embarked on a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as the primary (and most profitable) hardware supplier to the PC industry. After 2000, growth in demand for high-end microprocessors slowed and competitors garnered significant market share, initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across the product range, and Intel's dominant position was reduced. In the early 2000s then-CEO Craig Barrett attempted to diversify the company's business beyond semiconductors, but few of these activities were ultimately successful. In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms (enterprise, digital home, digital health, and mobility) which led to the hiring of over 10,000 new employees. In September of 2006 due to falling profits, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in a workforce reduction of 10,500 employees or about 10 percent of its workforce by July of 2006. Its research lab located at Cambridge University was closed at the end of 2006.In September 2006, Intel had nearly 100,000 employees and 200 facilities world wide. Its 2005 revenues were $38.8 billion and its ranking was 49th. Its stock symbol is INTC, listed on the Intel, x86 processors, and the IBM PCDespite the ultimate importance of the microprocessor, the and its successors the and the were never major revenue contributors at Intel. As the next processor, the (and its variant the was completed in 1978, Intel embarked on a major marketing and sales campaign for that chip nicknamed "Operation Crush", and intended to win as many customers for the processor as possible. One design win was the newly-created division, though the importance of this was not fully realized at the time.IBM introduced its personal computer in 1981, and it was rapidly successful. In 1982, Intel created the microprocessor, though IBM chose not to use that, embarking on an effort to produce its own x86 processor under a cross-licensing agreement with Intel., the first IBM PC "clone" manufacturer, in 1985 produced a desktop system based on the faster processor and in 1986 quickly followed with the first based system, beating IBM and establishing a competitive market for PC-compatible systems and setting up Intel as a key component supplier486, Pentium, and Itanium:Intel introduced themicroprocessor in 1989, and in 1990 formally established a second design team, designing the processors code-named "P5" and "P6" in parallel and committing to a major new processor every two years, versus the four or more years such designs had previously taken. The P5 was introduced in 1993 as the Intel , substituting a trademarked name for the former part number (numbers, like 486, cannot be trademarked). The P6 followed in 1995 as the and improved into thein 1997. New architectures were developed alternately in. Later, some chip variants were developed in Intel's Santa Clara design team embarked in 1993 on a successor to the x86 architecture, codenamed "P7". The first attempt was dropped a year later, but quickly revived in a cooperative program with engineers, though Intel soon took over primary design responsibility. The resulting implementation of the 64-bit architecture was the , introduced in June 2001. The Itanium's performance running legacy x86 code did not achieve expectations, and it initially failed to effectively compete with 64-bit extensions to the original x86 architecture, first from AMD (thethen from Intel itself (the , formerly known as EM64T). Intel continues to develop and deploy the Itanium and the IA-64 architecture as the During this period Intel's Hillsboro team designed and introduced the * in 1995, the processor (code-named P67 and P68) and marketed as Pentium 4, and finally the 64-bit extensions to the x86 architecture, present in some versions of the Pentium 4 and in the chips.Intel was founded in 1968 by (a physicist and co-inventor of the . A number of other Fairchild employees also went on to participate in other Silicon Valley companies. Intel's fourth employee was ), who ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s. Grove is now remembered as the company's key business and strategic leader. By the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the largest and most successful businesses in the world, though fierce competition within the semiconductor industry has since diminished its position.[ Origin of the nameAt its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company "Moore Noyce". This name, however, sounded remarkably similar to "more noise" — an ill-suited name for an company, since noise is typically associated with bad They then used the name NM Electronics for almost a year, before deciding to call their company INTegrated ELectronics or "Intel" for short. However, Intel was already trademarked by a chain, so they had to buy the rights for that name at the beginning]The nickname Chipzilla was coined by journalist and industry analyst , where it was picked up and amplified by and The Inquirer.[] Company's evolutionIntel has grown through several distinct phases. At its founding, Intel was distinguished simply by its ability to make semiconductors, and its primary product were (SRAM) chips. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices. While Intel created the in 1971 and one of the first by the early 1980s its business was dominated by chips. However, increased competition from manufacturers had by 1983 dramatically reduced the profitability of this market, and the sudden success of the convinced then-CEO Grove to shift the company's focus to microprocessors and to change fundamental aspects of that business model. By the end of the 1980s this decision had proven successful, and Intel embarked on a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as the primary (and most profitable) hardware supplier to the PC industry. After 2000, growth in demand for high-end microprocessors slowed and competitors garnered significant market share, initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across the product range, and Intel's dominant position was reduced. In the early 2000s then-CEO Craig Barrett attempted to diversify the company's business beyond semiconductors, but few of these activities were ultimately successful. In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms (enterprise, digital home, digital health, and mobility) which led to the hiring of over 20,000 new employees. In September of 2006 due to falling profits, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in layoffs of 10,500 employees or about 10 percent of its workforce by July of 2006. Its research lab located at Cambridge University was closed at the end of 2006SRAMS and the microprocessorThe company's first products memory and random-access integrated circuits, and Intel grew to be a leader in the fiercely competitive markets throughout the 1970s. Concurrently, Intel engineers , invented the first . Originally developed for the Japanese companyreplace a number of in a calculator already produced by Busicom, the was introduced to the mass market on , though the microprocessor did not become the core of Intel's business until the mid-1980s. (Note: Intel is usually given credit with for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)] From DRAM to microprocessorsIn 1983, at the dawn of the era, Intel's profits came under increased pressure from memory-chip manufacturers, and then-President Andy Grove drove the company into a focus on microprocessors. Grove described this transition in the book A key element of his plan was the notion, then considered radical, of becoming the single source for successors to the microprocessor.Until then, manufacture of complex integrated circuits was not reliable enough for customers to depend on a single supplier, but Grove began producing processors in three geographically distinct factories, and ceased licensing the chip designs to competitors such . When the PC industry exploded in the late 1980s and 1990s, Intel was one of the primary beneficiaries.Intel, x86 processors, and the IBM PCDespite the ultimate importance of the microprocessor, the and its successors the were never major revenue contributors at Intel. As the next processor, the ) was completed in 1978, Intel embarked on a major marketing and sales campaign for that chip nicknamed "Operation Crush", and intended to win as many customers for the processor as possible. One design win was the newly-createddivision, though the importance of this was not fully realized at the time.IBM introduced its personal computer in 1981, and it was rapidly successful. In 1982, Intel created the microprocessor, which, two years later, were used in the IBM PC/AT. the first IBM PC "clone" manufacturer, in 1985 produced a desktop system based on the faster processor and in 1986 quickly followed with the first -based system, beating IBM and establishing a competitive market for PC-compatible systems and setting up Intel as a key component supplier.[] 386 microprocessorDuring this period Andy Grove dramatically redirected the company, closing much of its business and directing resources to the microprocessor business. Of perhaps more importance was his decision to "single-source" the 386 microprocessor. Prior to this, microprocessor manufacturing was in its infancy, and manufacturing problems frequently reduced or stopped production, interrupting supplies to customers. To mitigate this risk, these customers typically insisted that multiple manufacturers produce chips they would use to ensure a consistent supply. The 8080 and 8086-series microprocessor were produced by several companies, notably Grove made the decision not to license the 386 design to other manufacturers, instead producing it in three geographically-distinct factories in Santa Clara (CA), Hillsboro (OR), and Phoenix (AZ), and convincing customers that this would ensure consistent delivery. As the success of Compaq's Deskpro 386 established the 386 as the dominant CPU choice, Intel achieved a position of near-exclusive dominance as its supplier. Profits from this funded rapid development of both higher-performance chip designs and higher-performance manufacturing capabilities, propelling Intel to a position of unquestioned leadership by the early 1990s.Intel Pentium 4 Processor[486, Pentium, and ItaniumIntel introduced microprocessor in 1989, and in 1990 formally established a second design team, designing the processors code-named "P5" and "P6" in parallel and committing to a major new processor every two years, versus the four or more years such designs had previously taken. The P5 was introduced in 1993 as the Intel substituting a trademarked name for the former part number (numbers, like 486, cannot be trademarked). The P6 followed in 1995 as in 1997. New architectures were developed alternately in and Later, many chip variants were developed in Intel's Santa Clara design team embarked in 1993 on a successor to the x86 architecture, codenamed "P7". The first attempt was dropped a year later, but quickly revived in a cooperative program with engineers, though Intel soon took over primary design responsibility. The resulting implementation of the 64-bit architecture was the , introduced in June 2001. The Itanium's performance running legacy x86 code did not achieve expectations, and it initially failed to effectively compete with 64-bit extensions to the original x86 architecture, first from AMD (the ), then from Intel itself (, formerly known as EM64T). Intel continues to develop and deploy the Itanium and the IA-64 architecture as the .During this period Intel's Hillsboro team designed and introduced the * processor (code-named P67 and P68) and marketed as Pentium 4, and finally the 64-bit extensions to the x86 architecture, present in some versions of the Pentium 4 and in the Pentium flawMain June 1994, Intel engineers discovered a flaw in the floating-point math subsection of the Pentium microprocessor. Under certain data-dependent conditions, low-order bits of the result of floating-point division operations would be incorrect, an error that can quickly compound in floating-point operations to much larger errors in subsequent calculations. Intel decided to correct the error in a future chip revision, but nonetheless declined to disclose it.[In October 1994, Dr. Thomas Nicely, Professor of Mathematics at independently discovered the bug, and upon receiving no response from his inquiry to Intel, on October 30 posted a message on the InternetWord of the bug spread quickly on the Internet and then to the industry press. Because the bug was easy to replicate by an average user (there was a sequence of numbers one could enter into the OS calculator to show the error), Intel's statements that it was minor and "not even an erratum" were not accepted by many computer users. During Thanksgiving 1994 the spotlighting the error. Intel changed their position and decided to offer to replace every chip, quickly putting in place a large end-user support organization. This resulted in a $500 million charge against Intel's 1994 revenue.Paradoxically, the "Pentium flaw" incident, Intel's response to it, and the surrounding media coverage propelled Intel from being a technology supplier generally unknown to most computer users to a household name. Dovetailing with an up tick in the "Intel Inside" campaign, the episode is considered by some to have been a positive event for Intel, changing some of its business practices to be more end-user focused and generating substantial public awareness, while avoiding (for most users) a lasting negative impression.[Inside, Intel Systems Division, and Intel Architecture LabsDuring this period, Intel undertook two major supporting programs that helped guarantee their processor's success. The first is widely-known: the 1990 " marketing and branding campaign. This campaign established Intel, which had been a component supplier little-known outside the PC industry, as a household name. The second program is little-known: Intel's Systems Group began, in the early 1990s, manufacturing PC "the main board component of a personal computer, and the one into which the processor (CPU) and memory (RAM) chips are plugged. Shortly after, Intel began manufacturing fully-configured "white box" systems for the dozens of PC clone companies that rapidly sprang up. At its peak in the mid-1990s, Intel manufactured over 15% of all PCs, making it the third-largest supplier at the time. By manufacturing leading-edge PC motherboards systems, Intel enabled smaller manufacturers to compete with larger manufacturers, accelerating the adoption of the newest microprocessors and system architecture, including theother innovations. This led to more rapid adoption of each of its new processors in turn.[combined to end this dominance: the slowing of PC demand growth beginning in 2000 and the rise of the low-cost PC. By the end of the 1990s, microprocessor performance had outstripped software demand for that CPU power. Aside from high-end server systems and software, demand for which dropped with the end of the "", consumer systems ran effectively on increasingly low-cost systems after 2000. Intel's strategy of producing ever-more-powerful processors and obsoleting their predecessors stumbled, leaving an opportunity for rapid gains by competitors, notably AMD. This in turn lowered the profitability of the processor line and ended an era of unprecedented dominance of the PC hardware by Intel.[]Intel's dominance in thmarket led to numerous charges of violations over the years, including in both the late 1980s and in 1999, and civil actions such as the 1997 suit (DEC) and a patent suit by Intel's market dominance (at one time it controlled over 85% of the market for 32-bit PC microprocessors) combined with Intel's own hardball legal tactics (such as its infamoussuit versus PC manufacturers) made it an attractive target for litigation, but few of the lawsuits ever amounted to anything.A case of arose in 1995 that involved both Intel and AMD. months in prison in June of 1996with AppleFor more details on this topic, see Jobs confirms the rumors of the transition at the 2005 WWDC. The lowered "e" is a humorous reference to Intel's former logo.On announced that Apple would be transitioning from its long favored , because the future PowerPC road map was unable to satisfy Apple's needs. The first Apple computers containing Intel CPUs were announced on Apple initially planned to put Intel chips in all of their computers by the end and later announced that it would be complete by the end of 2006Apple managed to have its entire consumer product line running on Intel processors by early August 2006. The Apple Xserve server was updated to Intel processors from November 2006 and is offered in a configuration similar to Apple's Mac Proof XScale processor businessOn June 27, 2006, the sale of Intel's assets was announced. Intel agreed to sell the XScale processor business toits resources on its core x86 and server businesses. The acquisition was completed on November 9, 2006.European Commission anti-competitive allegationsIn 2007, the of anti-competitive practices, mostly against its main The allegations, going back till 2003, include giving preferential prices to computer makers getting most or all CPU chips from Intel, paying computer makers to delay or cancel the launch of products using AMD chips and providing CPU chips at below cost to governments and educational ntel responded that the allegations were unfounded and instead qualified its market behavior as consumer-friendly. General counsel Bruce Sewell also responded that the Commission had misunderstood some factual assumptions concerning price and manufacturing costs.[If found guilty of stifling competition, Intel could be fined upto 10% of its annual revenue.Rival AMD also subsequently launched a website focusing on these allegations Core Duo advertisement controversyIn 2007, the company released a print advertisement for its Core Duo processor featuring six African American runners appearing to bow down to a Caucasian male inside of an office setting. According to Nancy Bhagat, Vice President of Intel Corporate Marketing, the general public found the ad to be "insensitive and insulting"The campaign was quickly pulled and several Intel executives made public apologies on the corporate website] Corporate affairsIn September 2006, Intel had nearly 100,000 employees and 200 facilities world wide. Its 2005 revenues heavily from within, most notably in its executive suite. The company has resisted the trend toward outsider CEOs. Paul Otellini was a 30-year veteran of the company when he assumed the role of CEO. All of his top lieutenants have risen through the ranks after many years with the firm. In many cases, Intel's top executives have spent their entire working careers with Intel, a very rare occurrence in volatile Silicon Valley.Intel has a mandatory retirement policy for its CEO when they reach age 65, but only one CEO, Barrett, has actually retired at 65. Previous CEOs all retired before reaching that age; Grove retired at 62, while both Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore retired at 58. At 57, Otellini has a long career at the helm ahead of him, assuming he goes until age 65 and performs satisfactorily.No one has an office; everyone, even Otellini, sits in. This is designed to promote has a similar no-office policy Like many companies with employee diversity groups, they include groups based on race and nationality as well as sexual identity and religion. In 1994, Intel sanctioned one of the earliest corporate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender employee groupsa Muslim employees groupin 2002. It has maintained this rating in 2003 and 2004. In addition, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2005 by However, Intel's working practices still face criticism, most notably from Ken Hamidia former employee who has been subject to multiple unsuccessful lawsuits from Intel.Microsoft Corporation or often just MS, is an technology with 79,000 employees in 102 countries and global annual of 51.12 as of 2007. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products for computing devices. Headquartered in , , its best selling products are the and the suite of productivity software. These products have prominent positions in the market, with estimates as high as 90% or more as of 2003 for Microsoft Office and 2006 for Microsoft Windows. One of key visions is "to get a workstation running our software onto every desk and eventually in every home".Founded to develop and sell for the , Microsoft rose to dominate the operating system market with in the mid-1980s. The company released an the, which, due to the ensuing rise of the stock price, has made four and an estimated 12,000 from Microsoft employees. Throughout its history the company has been the target of criticism for various reasons, including business practices—both the the, among others, brought Microsoft to court for and software bundling.Microsoft has footholds in other markets besides operating systems and office suites, with assets such as the network, the, and the multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both products such as the and products such as the, and Known for what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has historically given customer support over newsgroups and the awards status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in assisting the company's customers. The company's official website is one of the most visited on the Internet, receiving more than 2.4 million unique page views per day according to Alexa.com, which ranked the site 18th amongst all websites for traffic rank on.History1975–1985: FoundingFollowing the launch of the called the creators of the new , (MITS), offering to demonstrate an implementation of the for the system. After the demonstration, MITS agreed to distribute left , moved to where MITS was located, and founded Microsoft there. The company's first international office was founded on , , in Japan, entitled " Microsoft" (now called "").[the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home in . joined the company on , , and later succeeded Bill Gates asSystem) was the operating system that brought the company its first real success. On after negotiations with failed, a contract to Microsoft to provide a version of the operating system, which was set to be used in the upcoming (PC). For this deal, Microsoft purchased a clone called from , which IBM renamed to . Later, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones after successfully cloned the IBM , and by aggressively marketing to manufacturers of IBM-PC clones, Microsoft rose from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer industry. company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as a publishing division named .1985–1995: OS/2 and WindowsIn August 1985, Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a different operating system called On released its first retail version of , originally a graphical extension for its MS-DOS operating system. On , the company went public with an IPO, with a starting initial offering price of $21.00 and ending at the first day of trading as at US $28.00. In 1987, Microsoft eventually released their first version of OS/2 to .The sign at a main entrance to the Microsoft corporate campus. The Redmond Microsoft campus today includes more than 8 million square feet (approx. 750,000 m²) and over 30,000 employees.In 1989, Microsoft introduced its flagship , . This was a bundle of separate office productivity applications, such as and . On , launched The new version of Microsoft's operating system processor; it sold over 100,000 copies in two weeks. Windows at the time generated more revenue for Microsoft than OS/2, and the company decided to move more resources from OS/2 to Windows. In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and Windows quickly became the favored PC platform.During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft's product allowed the company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such as and . According to , Novell, an owner of WordPerfect for a time, alleged that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and of undocumented features to make Office perform better than its competitors. Eventually, Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with a far exceeding that of its competitors.In 1993, Microsoft released , a business operating system with the Windows 3.1 user interface but an entirely different kernel. In 1995, Microsoft released , a new version of the company's flagship operating system which featured a completely new user interface, including a novel ; more than a million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days after its release. The company also released its , , with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack in August 1995 and subsequent Windows versions.1995–2005: Internet and legal issuesIn the mid-90s, Microsoft began to expand its product line into and the . On , , it launched a major , (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to . MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services. The company continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture with to create a new 24/7 cable news station, Microsoft entered the personal digital assistant (PDA) market in November with , a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, specifically designed to run on low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other small computers. Later in 1997, was released for both and Windows, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival . In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal in which they stated that Microsoft had violated an agreement signed in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.The year 1998 was significant in Microsoft's history, with Bill Gates appointing as president of Microsoft but remaining as Chair and CEO himself. The company released , an update to Windows 95 that incorporated a number of Internet-focused features and support for new types of devices. On judgement was handed down in the case of , calling the company an "abusive monopoly" and forcing the company to split into two separate units. Part of this ruling was later overturned by a federal , and eventually settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001.codebase. XP introduced a new In 2001, Microsoft released first version that encompassed the features of both its business and home product lines. Before XP was released, Microsoft had to maintain both the and the , the first such change since Windows 95. Later, with the release of the Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar market dominated by and Microsoft encountered more turmoil in March 2004 when antitrust legal action was brought against it by the for abusing its current dominance with the Windows operating system (see eventually resulting in a judgement to produce new versions of its Windows XP platform—called Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N—that did not include its 2006–present: Vista and other transitionsIn 2006, Bill Gates announced a two year transition period from his role as Chief , which would be taken by , and planned to remain the company's chairman, head of the Board of Directors and act as an adviser on key projects. As of December 2007, , released in January 2007, is Microsoft's latest operating system. was released at the same time; its "" user interface is a significant departure from its predecessors.On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase internet services competitor for up to $44.6 billion, though this offer was rejected on February 10.Microsoft announced on February 21, 2008 that it will share more information about its products and technology in order to make it easier for developers to create software that works with its products.Product divisionsTo be more precise in tracking performance of each unit and delegating responsibility, Microsoft reorganized into seven core business groups—each an independent financial entity—in April 2002. Later, on , Microsoft announced a rationalization of its original seven business groups into the three core divisions that exist today: the Windows Client, MSN and Server and Tool groups were merged into the Microsoft Platform Products and Services Division; the Information Worker and Microsoft Business Solutions groups were merged into the Microsoft Business Division; and the and Home and Entertainment groups were merged into the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices DivisionPlatform Products and Services DivisionThe current logo of , one of the company's best-known products.This division produces Microsoft's product, the Windows operating system. It has been produced in many versions, including . Almost all come with Windows preinstalled. The current desktop version of Windows is Windows Vista. The , the cable television station and the Microsoft online magazine Slate are all part of this division. (Slate was acquired by on , .) At the end of 1997, Microsoft acquired most popular service, which it rebranded as "MSN Hotmail". In 1999, Microsoft introduced , an client, to compete with the popular . Along with Windows Vista, MSN Messenger became .is the company's set of tools and . The software product is GUI-oriented and links easily with the , but configured if used with non-Microsoft libraries. The current version is . The previous version, was a major improvement over its predecessor, Visual Studio.Net 2003, named after the .NET initiative, a Microsoft marketing initiative covering a number of technologies. Microsoft's definition of .NET continues to evolve. As of 2004, .NET aims to ease the development of Microsoft Windows-based applications that use the Internet, by deploying a new Microsoft communications system, Indigo (now renamed ). This is intended to address some issues previously introduced by Microsoft's DLL design, which made it difficult, even impossible in some situations, to manage, install multiple versions of complex on the same system (see ), and provide a more consistent development platform for all Windows applications (see ). In addition, the Company established a set of certification programs to recognize individuals who have expertise in its software and solutions. Similar to offerings from , , , , and , these tests are designed to identify a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this includes developers (), system/network analysts (), trainers administrators ( and ).Microsoft offers a suite of software, entitled . , an operating system for network servers, is the core of the Windows Server System line. Another server product, , is a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other server products include:Business DivisionFront entrance to building 17 on the main campus of the company's Redmond campus.The Microsoft Business Division produces , which is the company's line of office software. The software product includes (a word processor), (a personal relational database application), (a program), y , frequently used with (presentation software), and (). A number of other products were added later with the release of Office 2003 including andThe division focuses on developing financial and business management software for companies. These products include products formerly produced by the Business Solutions Group, which was created in April 2001 with the acquisition of . Subsequently, was acquired to provide a similar entry into the European market, resulting in the planned release of in 2006. The group and Solomon, catering to similar markets, which is scheduled to be combined with the Navision and Great Plains lines into a common platform calledEntertainment and Devices DivisionThe Microsoft's second system in the gaming console market.Microsoft has attempted to expand the Windows brand into many other markets, with products such as for and its "Windows-powered" Smartphone products. Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for , which today has developed into 6. The focus of the operating system is on devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular, appliances and cars. The company produces , formerly , a television-based . Microsoft used to sell a set-top (DVR) called the , which allowed users to record up to 35 hours of television programming from a provider . This was the main competition in the UK for 's (BSkyB) SKY + service, owned by . UltimateTV has since been discontinued, with DirecTV instead opting to market DVRs from Inc. before later switching to their own brand.Microsoft sells that run on Windows PCs, including titles such as , and the series. It produces a line of that include and , under the name Encarta. hosts free premium and retail games where players can compete against each other and in tournaments. Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar market dominated by and in late 2001, with the release of the . The company develops and publishes its own video games for this console, with the help of its subsidiary, in addition to Xbox such as , who pay a license fee to publish games for the system. The Xbox also has a successor in the on - in and other countries. With the , Microsoft hopes to compensate for the losses incurred with the original However, Microsoft made some decisions considered controversial in the video , such as releasing the console with high , selling two different versions of the system, one without the and providing limited with only particular Xbox titles. . In addition to the Xbox line of products, Microsoft also markets a number of other computing-related hardware products as well, including , and , along with other , the production of which is outsourced in most cases. As of 15 November 2007, Microsoft announced the purchase of Musiwave, 's mobile phone music sales business.Business cultureMicrosoft has often been described as having a developer-centric business culture. A great deal of time and money is spent each year on recruiting young university-trained and on keeping them in the company. For example, while many software companies often place an entry-level software developer in a cubicle desk within a large office space filled with other cubicles, Microsoft assigns a private or semiprivate closed office to every developer or pair of developers. In addition, key at every level are either developers or former developers. In a sense, the software developers at Microsoft are considered the "stars" of the company in the same way that the sales staff at IBM are considered the "stars" of their company.Within Microsoft the expression is used to describe the policy of using the latest Microsoft products inside the company in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations. Only prerelease and beta versions of products are considered dog food. This is usually shortened to just "dogfood" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. The company is also known for their hiring process, dubbed the "", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a round?" and is a process often mimicked in other organizations, although these types of questions are rarer now than they were in the past. For fun, Microsoft also hosts the , an annual (a live puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles) held at the Redmond campus.As of 2006, Microsoft employees, not including Bill Gates, have given over $2.5 billion dollars to worldwide, making Microsoft the worldwide top company in per-employee In January 2007, the Harris Interactive/The Wall Street Journal Reputation Quotient survey concluded that Microsoft had the world's best corporate reputation, citing strong financial performance, vision & leadership, workplace environment rankings, and the charitable deeds of the User cultureTechnical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network, often called . MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software. In recent years, Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, , which provides many modern features such as a and an . Another community site that provides daily and other services, On10.net, launched on March 3, 2006.Most free technical support available through Microsoft is provided through (in the early days it was also provided on ). There are several of these newsgroups for nearly every product Microsoft provides, and often they are monitored by Microsoft employees. People who are helpful on the newsgroups can be elected by other peers or Microsoft employees for (MVP) status, which entitles people to a sort of special social status, in addition to possibilities for awards and other benefits.Corporate affairsCorporate structureThe company is run by a Board of Directors consisting of ten people, made up of mostly company outsiders (as is customary for companies). Current members of the are: The ten board members are elected every year at the annual ' meeting, and those who do not get a majority of votes must submit a to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation. 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 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 laws.There are several other aspects to the corporate structure of Microsoft. For worldwide matters there is the Executive Team, made up of sixteen company officers across the globe, which is charged with various duties including making sure employees understand Microsoft's culture of business. The sixteen officers of the Executive Team include the Chairman and , the CEO, the and Secretary, , senior and group vice presidents from the business units, the CEO of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions; and the heads of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services; ; and Corporate Marketing. In addition to the Executive Team there is also the Corporate Staff Council, which handles all major staff functions of the company, including approving corporate policies. The Corporate Staff Council is made up of employees from the Law and Corporate Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Marketing, and Advanced Strategy and Policy groups at Microsoft. Other include the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the various product divisions, leaders of the marketing section, and the , among others.StockWhen the company debuted its , the price was US $21. By the close of the first , the stock had closed at $28, equivalent to 9.7 cents when adjusted for the company's first nine The initial close and ensuing rise in subsequent years made several Microsoft employees millions. The stock price peaked in 1999 at around US $119 (US $60.928 adjusting for splits). the company has had nine stock splits, the first of which was in , the company did not start offering a until The dividend for the 2003 eight cents per , followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year. The company switched from yearly to quarterly dividends in 2005, for eight cents a share per quarter with a of three dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year.Around 2003 the stock price began a slow descent. Despite the company's ninth split on , and subsequent increases in dividend payouts, the price of Microsoft's stock continued to fall for the next several years.DiversityIn 2005, Microsoft received a 100% rating in the Corporate Equality Index from the , a ranking of companies by how progressive the organization deems their policies concerning (. Partly through the work of the (GLEAM) group, Microsoft added to its anti-discrimination policies in April 2005, and the Human Rights Campaign upgraded Microsoft's Corporate Equality Index from its 86% rating in 2004 to its current 100% rating.In April 2005, Microsoft received wide criticism for withdrawing support from Washington state's H.B. 1515 bill that would have extended the state's current anti-discrimination laws to people with alternate . Microsoft was accused of bowing to pressure from local evangelical pastor who met with a senior Microsoft executive and threatened a national boycott of Microsoft's products. Microsoft also revealed they were paying evangelical conservative 's company Century Strategies a $20,000 monthly fee. Over 2,000 employees signed a petition asking Microsoft to reinstate support for the bill. Under harsh criticism from both outside and inside the company's walls, Microsoft decided to support the bill again in May 2005.Microsoft hires many foreign workers as well as domestic ones, and is an outspoken opponent of the cap on , which allow companies in the United States to employ certain foreign workers. Bill Gates claims the cap on H1B visas make it difficult to hire employees for the company, stating "I'd certainly get rid of the H1B cap."Logos and slogansIn 1987, Microsoft adopted its current logo, the so-called " Logo" designed by . According to the March 1987 Computer Reseller News Magazine, "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." Dave Norris, a Microsoft employee, 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.Microsoft's logo with the "Your potential. Our passion." tagline below the main corporate name, is based on the slogan Microsoft had as of 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?."