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| Microsoft Products and Services |
Microsoft has a profound impact on the tech industry, with many of its services being integral parts of our daily lives. For programmers, GitHub is a go-to platform for collaborating on code, managing projects, and sharing code repositories. LinkedIn, a professional networking site, is widely used worldwide for career development and networking opportunities.
In the realm of cloud computing, Microsoft Azure is a leading platform trusted by big companies like Verizon, MSI Computers, and LG Electronics for their cloud computing needs. Azure provides a wide range of services, including computing, storage, networking, databases, and analytics, enabling businesses to scale and innovate.
Additionally, Microsoft's gaming brand, Xbox, boasts over 90 million users, showcasing its significant presence in the gaming industry. Microsoft's ownership and development of these diverse services highlight its broad impact on technology and its ability to cater to various needs in today's digital age.
Microsoft is a household name. People with technical as well as non-technical backgrounds are familiar with Microsoft. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on the 4th of April 1975. Microsoft was a short form for "Micro-computer Software".
In April 2019, Microsoft achieved a significant milestone by becoming the third U.S. company to surpass a market capitalization of $1 trillion, joining the ranks of Apple and Amazon. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), and Amazon also boasted market capitalizations exceeding $1 trillion.
However, the pandemic and its economic fallout had a notable impact on these companies' valuations. While Microsoft managed to maintain its status as the most valuable company in the U.S. market with a market capitalization exceeding $1 trillion, the other tech giants experienced declines, temporarily falling below the trillion-dollar mark.
Microsoft's resilience in maintaining its market value can be attributed to several factors, including its diversified business portfolio, strong presence in the cloud computing market through Azure, and its focus on providing essential technology solutions and services during challenging times.
Microsoft's stock prices reached their peak in December 1999, hitting $57.63. However, for over a decade, until 2016, the stock struggled to surpass this figure. In 2014, Satya Nadella took over as CEO, ushering in significant changes to Microsoft's business models and priorities.
Under Nadella's leadership, Microsoft underwent a transformation, shifting its focus towards cloud computing and subscription-based services. This change in strategy proved successful, and by August 2016, just two years after Nadella became CEO, Microsoft's stock price surpassed its previous peak, reaching $57.93 per share.
Since then, Microsoft's stock prices have experienced substantial growth, reaching $214.25 per share on September 4, 2020. This remarkable increase reflects the market's positive response to Microsoft's strategic shifts and its successful transition to a cloud-first, mobile-first company under Nadella's guidance.
What makes Microsoft stand out from others is its ability to recover quickly and learn from its mistakes. Some examples of their worst failures are the windows phone operating system, Lumia Smartphone line-up, and the most hated Windows 8/8.1 OS. But with all this failure, they learned quickly and bounced back strong. From windows 8/8.1 they created the Windows 10 Operating System that might still not be as stable as Windows 7, but there are tons of new features, UI revamps, and with the continuous updates of Windows 10, it will soon become the best Windows version ever. The failure in the Lumia line-up resulted in the premium and sought after surface line of products like the Surface Pro Tablet, Surface Book, Surface Laptops, and the upcoming Surface Duo.
In the world of Desktop OS, Microsoft still has almost 80% market share combining all versions of the Windows Operating System. Windows 7 and Windows 10 are the most famous versions of Windows OS, while we can argue the third spot for Windows XP. The reason behind the growth of Microsoft in recent years is its diversified business model. The Windows OS is not an open-source OS like the Linux operating system, so people have to buy licenses for use, which is a small source of earning for the company. Office products like office 365 subscription, gaming solutions like Xbox one console and Xbox Live Subscription, intelligent cloud solutions by Azure, search advertising on Bing Search engine, Surface Products, Holo lens, and social media premium subscription on LinkedIn and Github generate a large chunk of the company's net worth.
Despite being one of the first tech companies to have a major impact in the computing world in the late 80s and 90s, Microsoft has always managed to be amongst the top.
What do we learn from Microsoft
The primary lesson we get from Microsoft is to keep innovating to remain on top. Leaders never rest, they keep moving.
