Field guide: Microsoft Corp.; Microsoft has a tremendous range of technology solutions that may be useful to you—and that you may not know about. Here's a look at what you need to know

Automotive Design & Production, Feb, 2008 by Lawrence S. Gould

The company

Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA; www.microsoft.com) was founded in 1975 by two high school friends, Bill Gates and Paul Alien, who focused on writing software for the computers now available for home users. This was several years before IBM introduced both the product and the name "personal computer" (PC) in August 1981. But when it appeared, the IBM PC was introduced with 16-bit MS-DOS-Microsoft Disk Operating System.

Development in command-line MS-DOS continued over the years. Eventually, eight major standalone versions came out until Microsoft stopped development in 2000. MS-DOS always faced competition, not only from the graphical user interface (GUI) in the Apple Macintosh computer, but also from Microsoft itself. In 1985, Microsoft introduced its first, albeit rudimentary (with limited GUI and multi-tasking), Windows OS-Windows 1.0. Windows 3.0 was launched in May 1990. Today, Windows XP, introduced in October 2001, runs on about 90% of the desktop and workstation computers worldwide. Windows Vista was introduced in January 2007.

With the OS as foundation, Microsoft branched out into "personal productivity" tools: Microsoft Works and Microsoft Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheet analysis, PowerPoint for slide presentations, and other applications. Many of these programs come bundled in Microsoft Office Suite(s). Other software products have followed: server-side OS and applications, development tools, information technology (IT) infrastructure tools--and more personal productivity applications for desktops, business workstations, mobile devices, and lately accessible on-line on the Web (also known as "cloud computing").

As of June 30, 2007, Microsoft employed approximately 78,500 people and has net revenues of $51.12 billion (15% over the previous year), with a net income of $14.07 billion (12% over the previous year).

Product information

The Microsoft product catalog includes dozens of individual applications and combinations of applications. Generally, Microsoft's product segments are Windows (client), office, mobile devices, business solutions, servers, developer tools, games and Xbox, hardware, and MSN. Many of these products, except obviously the entertainment products, come in versions suitable for individual PCs or for collaborative business environments involving multiple users at a single site or in multiple remote sites.

Windows (client)

Desktop OS. The Microsoft Windows OS, which include currently supported Windows XP and Vista, are the foundation for a range of applications, services, and hardware.

Embedded OS. Windows also comes as an embedded ("small footprint") OS. Microsoft Windows CE is a 32-bit, memory-protected OS kernel embedded in devices that require hard, real-time operation. CE 6.0 can run as many as 32,000 simultaneous processes, each with 2 GB of virtual memory space. Windows XP Embedded (XPe) is a "componentized" form of Windows XP Professional, which enables the OS to be as small as 40 MB. The .NET Micro Framework provides Microsoft .NET for inexpensive and resource-constrained devices. It requires a few hundred kilobytes of RAM, as little as 512K of flash memory, and an inexpensive 32-bit processor. Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) is the Windows OS optimized for point-of-service (POS) systems used by retail and hospitality companies. WEPOS supports applications written to the Win32 APIs and .NET framework, and supports Java virtual machines.

Office

Microsoft desktop programs let individuals and organizations author, collect, transform, and display source data into useful information in a variety of formats for a broad range of activities. Applications include database, spreadsheet, Web site authoring and management tool (FrontPage), product information management (Outlook), product data management (OneNote), slide creation and presentation, project management, desktop publishing, business-related diagramming (Visio), and word processing. Many of these applications can be found bundled as Office suites, such as Office Home and Student, Office Professional, Office Small Business, Office Ultimate, and Office Enterprise.

Several Microsoft business products increase individual productivity by extending the desktop programs, such as Business Intelligence, Duet for Microsoft Office and SAP, Enterprise Project Management Solution, Office Live Meeting, Office Business Applications, Office Live, Windows SharePoint Services. Duet for Microsoft Office and SAP links users to SAP business processes and data through Microsoft Office. Office Live Meeting lets users participate in online meetings anywhere at a moment's notice. Office Live helps small businesses establish a Web presence.

Mobile devices

Windows embedded OS, Windows Mobile software, and applications such as MapPoint and Windows Automotive extend the Windows operating environment to devices beyond the traditional desktop. These devices include cell phones, personal digital assistant (PDA), data collection devices, and automobiles. Microsoft SmartPhones-mobile phones running Windows Mobile-lets users browse the Web, view Microsoft Office files, listen to music, and use Outlook for email, using their own contacts and calendar. Run Office Mobile and Office Outlook Mobile on a PDA and get all that minus the phone capability. Windows Live for Windows Mobile adds cloud computing to mobile phones and WiFi-enabled PDAs.