Humanities › History & Culture Timeline of Microsoft Corporation A history timeline of computing giant Microsoft. Share Flipboard Email Print Mike MacKenzie / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 History & Culture Inventions Computers & The Internet Famous Inventions Famous Inventors Patents & Trademarks Invention Timelines American History African American History African History Ancient History and Culture Asian History European History Genealogy Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More By Mary Bellis Mary Bellis Inventions Expert Mary Bellis covered inventions and inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on November 17, 2019 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 Featured Video Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Bellis, Mary. "Timeline of Microsoft Corporation." ThoughtCo, Jan. 26, 2021, thoughtco.com/timeline-of-microsoft-corporation-1991139. Bellis, Mary. (2021, January 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 June 25, 2022). copy citation