Microsoft introduced the Windows operating system and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, originally to develop software for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. Its major breakthrough came with MS-DOS, followed by Windows 1.0 in 1985. Windows later became one of the world’s most widely used desktop operating systems.
Microsoft expanded beyond personal-computer software into servers, cloud computing, productivity applications, gaming, and professional networking. Its Azure cloud platform and Office subscription services became important parts of its business alongside Windows.
Microsoft is sometimes confused with IBM because both helped shape business computing, but they are separate companies. Microsoft’s headquarters are at its corporate campus in Redmond, east of Seattle, rather than in Seattle itself.