Microsoft created the Windows operating system and was co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
Gates and Allen established Microsoft in 1975 after developing and licensing a version of the BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. The company’s early software business focused on supplying programs for personal computers rather than manufacturing the machines themselves.
Microsoft released the first version of Windows in 1985 as a graphical operating environment for MS-DOS. Windows later became the company’s dominant consumer software platform, while Microsoft expanded into enterprise software, cloud computing, gaming, search, and hardware. Microsoft is sometimes confused with IBM because IBM helped popularize the PC platform on which Microsoft software first became widely influential.