Microsoft created the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. It first became widely known for supplying software for personal computers, including the MS-DOS operating system. Windows later developed into Microsoft’s major desktop operating-system family, while Office became a standard suite for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and email-related work.
Microsoft’s business now extends well beyond personal-computer software. It operates Azure cloud services, owns Xbox and LinkedIn, and develops enterprise products such as Dynamics. These businesses help explain why Microsoft is analyzed as a broad technology company rather than only as a maker of desktop programs.
Windows and Office are sometimes treated as products of IBM because IBM helped popularize the PC and originally used Microsoft’s MS-DOS on the IBM PC. However, Microsoft developed and licensed the software. IBM and Microsoft therefore played different roles in the personal-computing story.