In your day to day life you most likely use something made by Microsoft, whether it be Microsoft Windows or playing games on your XBOX. The point is, Microsoft is a very big company and in this how they all began I will be explaining how Microsoft began.
Starting out
Microsoft was founded by childhood friends Paul Allen and Bill Gates, they were determined to create a successful business from the programming skills that they both had. In 1972 they created their own company, Traf-O-Data which was used to analyse automobile traffic data. Allen decided to go to Washing State University to get a degree for computer science whereas Gates decided to enroll at Harvard, but Allen dropped out of University to work at Honeywell. The pair officially established Microsoft in April 4, 1975.
MS-DOS
Microsoft created its first operating system in 1980, adapting a version of Unix and creating their own called Xenix. Xenix was not very sought after and Microsoft's MS-DOS was what they were looking for. IBM awarded a contact to Microsoft in November of 1980 to created an OS for the new IBM PC. The OS IBM were looking for was a CP/M (control program for Microcomputers) one, which Gates and Allen did not have much experience with. As they did not have this experience, they purchased a CP/M clone from Seattle Computer Products known as 86-Dos, they then changed the name to MS-DOS and when IBM received it they changed the name to PC DOS.
Windows
Microsoft released Microsoft Windows on November 20 1985. Microsoft Windows was a extension for MS-DOS, giving it a gui. Creating Microsoft Windows meant that they had to leave the creation of OS/2 with IBM. Microsoft made a move of its headquarters to Redmond, Washington and the company went public on March 13 1986. The rise of stock for Microsoft skyrocketed as the company went public, and this made 12000 millionaires and 4 billionaires from the employees. Microsoft released their own version of OS/2 to OEM's on April 2, 1987. In the early 1990's Microsoft started working on a 32 bit operating system and released it on July 21, 1993.
MS Office
in 1990, Microsoft created Microsoft Office. Microsoft office bundled productivity apps which we know of today, such as Microsoft word and Microsoft Excel. On May 20 Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 which gave better graphics and enhanced the already great for its time user interface. This made the office suite excel ( excuse the pun ) and Windows and Office became the top runners in their areas.
XBOX
The original Xbox was realised on the 15th of November, 2001 in North America, 22nd of February in Japan and 14th of March 2002 in Australia and Europe. This was Microsoft's first steps in the gaming console market.
XBOX 360
The Xbox 360 was the successor of the original Xbox and was released in November 2005, competing with Sony's PS3 and Nintento's Wii. The Xbox 360 sold out upon release in all regions except Japan, where the PS3 was more common.
XBOX One
The Xbox One was released on the 22nd of of November 2013. The Xbox One is the successor of the Xbox 360. The Xbox One mainly focused on Internet based features.
Current Years
Microsoft has really been excelling in the past few years, being the most popular OS for PC's and laptops alike. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsft is now the 2nd Richest man in the world but held the title of the worlds richest man for a long time, with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon beating him in 2017.