Microsoft

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEX: 4338) is an American-based multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its most profitable products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Originally founded to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Windows line of operating systems. Its products have all achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market. One commentator notes that Microsoft's original mission was "a computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software."Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV.[8] The company's initial public stock offering (IPO) was in 1986; the ensuing rise of the company's stock price has made four billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees.

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Microsoft Window

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs).[1] Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. At the 2004 IDC Directions conference, it was stated that Windows had approximately 90% of the client operating system market.[2] The most recent client version of Windows is Windows Vista; the most recent server version is Windows Server 2008. Vista's successor, Windows 7 (currently in public beta) is slated to be released between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010.

Windows 3.0 (1990) and Windows 3.1 (1992) improved the design, mostly because of virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers (VxDs) which allowed them to share arbitrary devices between multitasked DOS windows.[citation needed] Also, Windows applications could now run in protected mode (when Windows was running in Standard or 386 Enhanced Mode), which gave them access to several megabytes of memory and removed the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They still ran inside the same address space, where the segmented memory provided a degree of protection, and multi-tasked cooperatively. For Windows 3.0, Microsoft also rewrote critical operations from C into assembly, making this release faster and less memory-hungry than its predecessors.[citation needed] With the introduction of the Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows was able to bypass DOS for file management operations using 32-bit file access.

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Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The name "XP" is short for "experience". Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, and is the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture. Windows XP was first released on 25 October 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst. It was succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on 8 November 2006, and worldwide to the general public on 30 January 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on 30 June 2008, although it is still possible to obtain Windows XP from System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) until 31 July 2009 or by purchasing Windows Vista Ultimate or Business and then downgrading to Windows XP.

The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which offers additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users, business and enterprise clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view

DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is designed to run stylus applications built using the Tablet PC platform. Windows XP was eventually released for two additional architectures, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for x86-64. There is also Windows XP Embedded, a componentized version of the Windows XP Professional, and editions for specific markets such as Windows XP Starter Edition.

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Microsoft WORD

Microsoft Word is Microsoft's word processing software. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. ersions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), SCO UNIX, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; however, it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. Beginning with the 2003 version, the branding was revised to emphasize Word's identity as a component within the Office suite; Microsoft began calling it Microsoft Office Word instead of merely Microsoft Word. The latest releases are Word 2007 for Windows and Word 2008 for Mac OS X.

Like other Microsoft Office documents, Word files can include advanced macros and even embedded programs. The language was originally WordBasic, but changed to Visual Basic for Applications as of Word 97.

This extensive functionality can also be used to run and propagate viruses in documents. The tendency for people to exchange Word documents via email, USB key, and floppy makes this an especially attractive vector. A prominent example is the Melissa worm, but countless others have existed in the wild. Some anti-virus software can detect and clean common macro viruses, and firewalls may prevent worms from transmitting themselves to other systems.

These Macro viruses are the only known cross-platform threats between Windows and Macintosh computers and they were the only infection vectors to affect any Mac OS X system up until the advent of video codec trojans in 2007. Microsoft's released patches for Word X and Word 2004 effectively eliminated the Macro problem on the Mac by 2006.

Word's macro security setting, which regulates when macros may execute, can be adjusted by the user, but in the most recent versions of Word, is set to HIGH by default, generally reducing the risk from macro-based viruses, which have become uncommon.

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Microsoft Anti-Virus

Microsoft Anti-Virus (MSAV) was an antivirus program introduced by Microsoft for its MS-DOS operating system. The program first appeared in MS-DOS version 6.0 and last appeared in version 6.22. The first version of the antivirus program was quite rudimentary, had no update facility (though a single update became available), and could only scan for about 1,000 viruses. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows (MWAV), included as part of the package, could be run under Windows 3.x.

Both the MS-DOS and Windows versions of the latest product had common features; the "Detect and Clean" strategy of Microsoft Anti-Virus could scan for and detect 1,234 distinct viruses. Other features included the detection of boot sector and trojan horse-type viruses which was the typical virus problem at the time.

The program also had an anti-stealth and checksum feature that could be used to detect any changes in normal files. This technology was intended to make up for the unavailability of regular update packages. Only one virus update was introduced since the original releases bringing the total protection to 2,371 viruses in 1996.

Microsoft Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 is the most recent release of Microsoft Windows' server line of operating systems. Released to manufacturing on 4 February 2008 and officially released on 27 February 2008, it is the successor to Windows Server 2003, released nearly five years earlier. Like Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 is built on the Windows NT 6.0 kernel. A second release, named Windows Server 2008 R2, is currently under development and has been released in a Release Candidate version.

Originally known as Windows Server Codename "Longhorn", Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced its official title (Windows Server 2008) during his keynote address at WinHEC 16 May 2007.[1]

Beta 1 was released on 27 July 2005, Beta 2 was announced and released on 23 May 2006 at WinHEC 2006 and Beta 3 was released publicly on 25 April 2007.[2] Release Candidate 0 was released to the general public on 24 September 2007[3] and Release Candidate 1 was released to the general public on 5 December 2007. Windows Server 2008 was released to manufacturing on 4 February 2008 and officially launched on 27 February 2008.

Microsoft's Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

A prominent feature of the Xbox 360 is its integrated Xbox Live service that allows players to compete online and download content such as arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, and movies. Major features of the console include its Windows Media Center multimedia capabilities, mandatory support of high definition in all games, movie rentals and game downloads from its online marketplace and the ability to watch HD DVD movies with an add-on drive.

The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The console sold out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan, and, as of January 5, 2009, 28 million units have been sold worldwide, according to Microsoft.[1] The Xbox 360 is currently available in three configurations: the "Arcade," the "Pro," and the "Elite" console, each with its own selection of accessories.

Special editions

On a few occasions, Microsoft has produced special editions of the console, usually to coincide with the release of a major product. These special editions are typically custom-colored Xbox 360 models, and are produced in limited numbers.

At the E3 2007 press conference, Microsoft announced the Halo 3 Special Edition console, released September 16, 2007. It sports a Halo 3 theme on the console, wired headset, wireless controller, and play and charge kit. Other than the unique "Spartan green and gold" color scheme, exclusive dashboard theme and downloads, and an HDMI port, its features were identical to those of the Xbox 360 system at the time. It is priced at US$399.99 and £279.99 (the original price of the Xbox 360).

To promote The Simpsons Movie, Microsoft created a specially designed, yellow Xbox 360 console.The configuration was based on the Xbox 360 package of the time, the only difference being the color scheme of the Xbox 360 console and wireless controller. The consoles were to be given out to winners of drawings taking place between July 18, 2007 and July 27, 2007, in which a name was randomly drawn each day in the "10 Days and 10 Chances to Win" sweepstakes.Ten consoles were produced in total.^[35]

A Resident Evil 5 bundle containing a red Xbox 360 Elite console was released on March 13, 2009.The bundle also contains a red, wireless controller and a black, wired headset.

Holiday bundles

As with the original Xbox, Microsoft has continued bundling two video game titles in console retail packaging during the holiday season. In Holiday 2007, Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite packages were bundled with Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Forza 2 was bundled with Viva Pinata in the UK.Holiday 2008 Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite packages are bundled with Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and Kung Fu Panda, while Arcade consoles are bundled with Sega Superstars Tennis.