Timeline of Microsoft Corporation

A history timeline of computing giant Microsoft.

Mike MacKenzie / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

History & Culture

By

Mary Bellis

Updated on November 17, 2019

Key Takeaways

Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
Windows, one of Microsoft's most successful products, was first released in 1985.

This timeline shows the main events in Microsoft history.

1975: Microsoft founded
January 1, 1979: Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington
June 25, 1981: Microsoft incorporates
August 12, 1981: IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0
November 1983: Microsoft Windows announced
November 1985: Microsoft Windows version 1.0 released
February 26, 1986: Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, Washington
March 13, 1986: Microsoft stock goes public
April 1987: Microsoft Windows version 2.0 released
August 1, 1989: Microsoft introduces earliest version of Office suite of productivity applications
May 22, 1990: Microsoft launches Windows 3.0
August 24, 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95
December 7, 1995: Internet by launching internet explorer a web browser.
June 25, 1998: Microsoft launches Windows 98
Jan. 13, 2000: Steve Ballmer named president and chief executive officer for Microsoft
Feb. 17, 2000: Microsoft launches Windows 2000
June 22, 2000: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer outline Microsoft's .NET strategy for Web services

May 31, 2001: Microsoft launches Office XP
Oct. 25, 2001: Microsoft launches Windows XP
Nov. 15, 2001: Microsoft launches Xbox
Nov. 7, 2002: Microsoft and partners launch Tablet PC
April 24, 2003: Microsoft launches Windows Server 2003
Oct. 21, 2003: Microsoft launches Microsoft Office System
Nov. 22, 2005: Microsoft launches Xbox 360
Jan. 30, 2007: Microsoft launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System to consumers worldwide
Feb. 27, 2008: Microsoft launches Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008
June 27, 2008: Bill Gates transitions from his day-to-day role at Microsoft to spend more time on his work at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
June 3, 2009: Microsoft launches Bing search engine
Oct. 22, 2009: Microsoft launches Windows 7
June 15, 2010: Microsoft launches general availability of Office 2010
Nov. 4, 2010: Microsoft launches Kinect for Xbox 360
Nov. 10, 2010: Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7
Nov. 17, 2010: Microsoft announces availability of Microsoft Lync
June 28, 2011: Microsoft launches Office 365

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Your Citation

Bellis, Mary. "Timeline of Microsoft Corporation." ThoughtCo, Apr. 26, 2025, thoughtco.com/timeline-of-microsoft-corporation-1991139. Bellis, Mary. (2025, April 26). Timeline of Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-microsoft-corporation-1991139 Bellis, Mary. "Timeline of Microsoft Corporation." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-microsoft-corporation-1991139 (accessed May 29, 2025).