Humanities › History & Culture Timeline of Microsoft Corporation A history timeline of computing giant Microsoft. Share Flipboard Email Print Microsoft Founder Bill Gates shows the newly-released Windows 3.0. Courtesy of Microsoft History & Culture Inventions Computers & Internet Basics Famous Inventions Famous Inventors Patents & Trademarks Timelines American History African American History African History Ancient History & Culture Asian History European History Family History & Genealogy Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More by Mary Bellis Mary Bellis wrote on the topics of inventors and inventions for 18 years and was a film producer and director. Updated March 17, 2017 This timeline of Microsoft history accompanies our main article Microsoft - Profile of a Computing Giant. 1975 Microsoft foundedJanuary 1, 1979 Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, WashingtonJune 25, 1981 Microsoft incorporatesAugust 12, 1981 IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0 November, 1983 Microsoft Windows announcedNovenber, 1985 Microsoft Windows version 1.0 releasedFebruary 26, 1986 Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, WashingtonMarch 13, 1986 Microsoft stock goes publicApril, 1987 Microsoft Windows version 2.0 releasedAugust 1, 1989 Microsoft introduces earliest version of Office suite of productivity applicationsMay 22, 1990 Microsoft launches Windows 3.0 August 24, 1995 Microsoft launches Windows 95December 7, 1995 Internet by launching internet explorer a web browser.June 25, 1998 Microsoft launches Windows 98Jan. 13, 2000 Steve Ballmer named president and chief executive officer for MicrosoftFeb. 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 XPOct. 25, 2001 Microsoft launches Windows XPNov. 15, 2001 Microsoft launches XboxNov. 7, 2002 Microsoft and partners launch Tablet PCApril 24, 2003 Microsoft launches Windows Server 2003Oct. 21, 2003 Microsoft launches Microsoft Office SystemNov. 22, 2005 Microsoft launches Xbox 360Jan. 30, 2007 Microsoft launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System to consumers worldwideFeb. 27, 2008 Microsoft launches Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008June 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 FoundationJune 3, 2009 Microsoft launches Bing search engineOct. 22, 2009 Microsoft launches Windows 7June 15, 2010 Microsoft launches general availability of Office 2010Nov. 4, 2010 Microsoft launches Kinect for Xbox 360Nov. 10, 2010 Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7Nov. 17, 2010 Microsoft announces availability of Microsoft LyncJune 28, 2011 Microsoft launches Office 365 Continue Reading