Date Event
1975 Microsoft founded
Jan. 1, 1979 Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington
June 25, 1981 Microsoft incorporates
Aug. 12, 1981 IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0
Feb. 26, 1986 Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, Washington
March 13, 1986 Microsoft stock goes public
Aug. 1, 1989 Microsoft introduces earliest version of Office suite of productivity applications
May 22, 1990 Microsoft launches Windows 3.0
Aug. 24, 1995 Microsoft launches Windows 95
Dec. 7, 1995 Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's commitment to supporting and enhancing the Internet
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
Jan. 15, 2002 Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's commitment to Trustworthy Computing
Nov. 7, 2002 Microsoft and partners launch Tablet PC
Jan. 16, 2003 Microsoft declares annual dividend
April 24, 2003 Microsoft launches Windows Server 2003
Oct. 21, 2003 Microsoft launches Microsoft Office System
July 20, 2004 Microsoft announces plans to return up to $75 billion to shareholders in dividends and stock

buybacks
June 15, 2006 Microsoft announces that Bill Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company in

July 2008, Ray Ozzie is named chief software architect and Craig Mundie chief research & strategy officer
July 20, 2006 Microsoft announces a new $20 billion tender offer and authorizes an additional share- repurchase program of up to $20 billion over five years
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

Source: Mera Windows