Microsoft began as just another small software company with a significant difference: it developed an operating system for personal computers that it was able to license to IBM. MS-DOS (for Microsoft Disk Operating System) began the de facto standard for all of the personal computer clones that followed the IBM microcomputer on to the market; as a result, Microsoft became a powerful force in the software industry. Using the revenue from its relationship with IBM, Microsoft expanded to application software, and slowly began building a software empire which encompasses both home and business software, and which is written for the IBM clones as well as for Apple machines. In the process, Microsoft has grown to one of the largest companies in the world, Bill Gates (its CEO) has become one of the wealthiest men in the world, and the small software company that once represented entrepreneurship and independence is increasingly associated with strong-arm marketing tactics and a bureaucratic mentality. This research examines the history of Microsoft, the company's mission, its recent financial performance, and the vision of the world that its CEO extols in his recent book, The Road Ahead.
Bill Gates sees the road ahead as being defined by the information superhighway (hence the double meaning of the book's title). According to Gates, the information superhighway will make available large quantities of information inexpensively and in a form that people around the world can access. Gates sees the price of computers themselves decreasing, making them more accessible to individuals, and sees the opportunities for companies, organizations and individuals to participate in the Internet and World Wide Web as expanding. There are, of course, potential problems with the information superhighway. These include the ability of individuals to protect their privacy: with so much information available, it is possible that individuals will sac...