microsoft windows debuted in 1985
and for the past two decades it has been
the dominant pc operating system
worldwide in 2020 windows had almost 83
market share by unit shipments while
google chrome os had 10
and apple's mac os had 7 bill gates
vision was to put a pc in every desk in
every home
we've struck a chord with windows where
people feel like it's their
product it's their operating system from
solitaire to its iconic start button and
startup sounds
productivity apps gaming and corporate
computing windows changed the way we use
computers
the legendary windows 95 helped propel
the company to dominate the market in
personal computing
microsoft has introduced many versions
of windows since its inception
with some more memorable than others
today there are more than 1.3 billion
devices running windows 10 worldwide on
a monthly basis
many of its deployments if not most are
within corporations
where it gets becomes part of a
corporate ecosystems corporations
manage it and secure it and make it part
of their own
windows only makes up 14 of microsoft's
business
but remains a critical part of it
windows has been a key piece of
microsoft's business
almost from the beginning it wasn't just
critical because it sold pcs
windows was critical because it sold
office
the graphical user interface programs
word
excel powerpoint you know that's why
it's been critical to their business and
remains critical today
the company just announced the latest
version windows 11.
we take a look back over three decades
of windows and how it came to dominate
today lots of things have operating
systems computers
phones tvs even cars an operating system
or os allows users and applications to
work with hardware without the need to
enter lines of code back in the 1980s
using a computer was very complex
the motivation for windows from the very
beginning was to
improve it to remove those bearers to
make it as effortless as possible
to get the most out of the technology
that you had available to you
windows was not the first os microsoft
made when it was first getting started
it developed ms-dos
1.0 short for microsoft disk operating
system for computer maker ibm
microsoft specified that ibm would not
have exclusive rights to the software
leaving open the opportunity for the
company to supply other hardware and
computer makers the same os
microsoft started to understand that
interface design
was critical not just to windows but to
all of its applications windows was not
thought of as an operating system in the
early days but a graphical user
interface
or gui that would run on top of ms-dos
one of the first personal computers that
used a gui was the xerox star
which would be very influential
according to bill gates on both
microsoft and apple's gui designs
bill really believed that this was the
future
for the company so there was heavy
pressure to get this thing to market
microsoft released windows 1.0 in
november 1985.
it was a little bit clunky or quirky
plus windows had the
the challenge that jobs and apple didn't
have
they just had to make it run on their
hardware we had to make it run
on all those different ms-dos machines
that were in the market at the time
apple's lisa was the first commercial pc
to have a gui and in 1984 the company
unveiled the macintosh
at the time microsoft created software
specifically for new macs
including the first version of microsoft
word the two companies made a
confidential agreement in 1985
that allowed microsoft to use any of
apple's interface elements
in its software after windows 2.0 was
released
apple sued microsoft for copyright
infringement however
the court said apple's copyrights were
covered by the existing agreement
apple appealed several times but the
court denied their petitions
at the time microsoft was building
another os in parallel with ibm which
was called
os2 at that point from steve's
perspective was destined to be the
future in that windows was kind of
stepping stone to that but that windows
would not continue once they had
completed that joint project with ibm
bill didn't quite see it that way but
eventually the whole thing got
terminated
then we really moved to the one that
kicked it all off and that was windows
3.0
that's when it really became serious
windows 3.0 was where users were
introduced to solitaire which was
designed to help users learn how to drag
and drop
using a mouse it also could run multiple
applications on top of one another
three months after 3.0 launch 1 million
copies had shipped worldwide and by 1993
there were 25 million licensed users of
windows globally
and 60 of pcs came with windows
pre-installed
the way that windows 3-0 took off
and captured the attention and people's
excitement caused a fundamental
reckoning inside microsoft what our
applications and operating system
strategies should be
then came windows 95.
[Music]
the marketing campaign for windows 95 is
legendary microsoft paid the rolling
stones for the rights to use
start me up to roll out its new feature
the start button
people lined up for hours at electronics
stores to get their hands on it
when windows 95 launched microsoft had
75 million users of the latest
version of windows 3. microsoft
generated 30 million dollars in revenue
on the first day it sold windows 95.
at the time windows was used on 80 of
all pcs with more than 100 million users
worldwide
it was really windows 95 that solidified
windows and started the move towards
windows being a dominant operating
system
the early 90s pcs are really just tools
for
using spreadsheets or databases that
wasn't something like an everyday person
would ever think what would i need a
personal computer for i wanted to
democratize computing
microsoft was becoming a dominant force
in the pc industry
its main competitors at the time were
apple and ibm
and despite not abandoning os2 ibm would
sell computers with windows 95
pre-installed we had two things
occurring at one time that affected
microsoft's revenue not only did you
have a new version of the operating
system
but hardware had changed significantly
enough
that enterprises and consumers
upgraded their hardware and their os
you've got to remember that every time a
new pc is purchased
a certain amount of money goes to
microsoft for that operating system
windows 95 offered lots of new features
like faxing messaging and networking
that previously required separate
programs to run
we also were committed to it being
worldwide we were able to
ship windows 95 simultaneously in eight
languages
people thought we were crazy but we
wanted to have that kind of worldwide
impact that was very differentiated from
the ibm
more enterprise focused view of the
world
or the apple we're focused on the
creative
people in business never
underestimate the role the
windows played in selling the other
products it sold developer tools
it sold office it sold
office it pulled
a lot of products with it and if you
weren't making the changes that you
needed to make in the operating system
you were not going to sell those other
products and in fact
you were going to hamper their
development during the late 90s
technology was rapidly changing
personal computing and the internet were
becoming more widely used
bill gates sent a memo titled the
internet title wave where he said
i want to make clear that our focus on
the internet is crucial to every part of
our business
when the internet came about you know
we're very proud to have that
in a sense be birthed on the windows
platform that's where the internet
started now many people use it on their
mobile phone but it started there
with netscape and then with our you know
internet explorer browser
in the 1990s microsoft was under legal
scrutiny for using its dominant position
to scare off competition
for much of that decade its share of
intel compatible pc operating systems
was above 90 when microsoft launched
internet explorer
netscape navigator already dominated the
internet browser market
but in 1998 the us government accused
the company of using its dominance in
computer software
to drive competitors out of business the
antitrust suit debated whether microsoft
forced computer makers to exclude a
netscape browser
on their pcs a judge ruled the company
unlawfully tied internet explorer to
windows
and ruled the company needed to be split
up it was around this time that bill
gates stepped down as ceo
and steve baumer took over but in 2002
an appeals court throughout the ruling
the company settled and agreed to a
consent decree
and barred the company from entering
into windows agreements that excluded
competitors
it unveiled windows 98 2000 me and xp
in quick succession these versions added
remote desktop
stronger security and graphic interface
updates
today it really is actually the
the end of the ms-boss era it's it's
also we would say the end of the windows
95 era
windows xp is the most powerful
fastest most reliable operating system
we have ever done
together with office xp windows xp
will set a new standard for business
he really was building the product for
the enterprise use which
ultimately became the foundation for the
windows product itself but
it took a while it really took till xp
before the crossover could be fully made
microsoft made sure to pay attention to
what business users were asking for big
companies
that were deploying thousands of windows
pcs
and once those companies are in windows
and they start building internal
applications for windows
many employees get used to using those
programs
all of that makes a formidable base
that companies are maybe reluctant to
leave
that is one piece of the enduring
success of windows
windows went through good and bad cycles
vista interacted differently with
programs and previous versions of
windows
users experienced applications running
at slower speeds
problems with graphics and other
hardware connection issues
that whole management team got kicked
out after
the disaster of vista and they put the
people that had been in charge of office
in charge of windows
but then windows 7 kind of fixed that
eight
was sort of microsoft's new coke moment
they tried to change the operating
system particularly as
it's exposed to the user too much
a lot of people just couldn't cope with
the degree of change that occurred
a lot of the frustrations that we had
with windows 8 there was no start menu
that was unfamiliar to people
and companies would say i need to train
my employees and you know the windows 8
team i give them credit for
pushing the boundaries but they became
too unfamiliar
windows 8 had a touch friendly design
like a smartphone
microsoft did develop a mobile os but
the company failed to win a leadership
position in hindsight i'd give apple and
google
credit for investing appropriately to
capture the mobile opportunity at the
right time
by the time you know we were all in on
mobile
and the same thing could be said of
search by the way by the time we were
all in on search
it wasn't five years too late it was
really like two years too late
and that's a lifetime in technology we
constantly try and stay
focused on the customers who use the pc
and use windows but then along
our coming mobile phones and with the
advent of these smartphones that could
do web browsing and phone calls
they became a platform you know we
missed the phone wave i mean
that's no no secret right we we tried
with windows
phone i think we had a pretty good
offering you know at that time i would
say hey look we didn't see
the advent of the mobile phone becoming
a full computing platform
in 2014 sacha nadella replaced steve
bommer as ceo
windows 10 ushers in an
era of more personal computing
in a mobile first cloud first world in
windows 10 what they've done is they've
kind of blended the best of the old so
we bring back
the start menu that folks were
comfortable with on windows 7.
they also uh brought cortana to the pc
cortana is kind of microsoft's answer to
siri
and then with windows 10 our challenge
was to maintain the frontier of the
technical push in the touch but
make it more familiar which again when
you think about a billion users
it is a challenge microsoft kept some of
those touch friendly features
and features that worked well with a
stylus but
ultimately it turned out that ios and
android
could co-exist alongside windows on pcs
while windows for phones became less and
less and less popular
microsoft began to de-emphasize windows
with satya nadella saying in 2019
the operating system is no longer the
most important layer for us
that was after the company split the
windows team into pieces the year before
two main engineering teams now focused
on experiences and devices
and cloud and ai platforms two major
areas of focus of the company moving
forward
microsoft has seen its azure cloud
business grow
as companies look beyond their corporate
server closets and try to add computing
resources
to meet the demand of their i.t
departments during the pandemic
so beyond azure and gaming and
office also you have this thing called
windows and
sales of windows licenses to device
makers
that are related to consumer pcs
have gone up considerably even though
the company's vision of windows became
broader it's still a huge source of
revenue and dominates the desktop os
market
after six years the company announced a
new version of windows windows 11.
this is the first version of a new era
of windows
we're building for the next decade and
beyond
we think it's the best platform for
creation if you're an apple developer
and you want to bring your own commerce
store
we'll let you bring your commerce store
within windows and you keep all of the
revenue
you can't do that on other platforms so
you get better economic return
you get better control of your
application other key features include
the start button moving to the middle of
the screen but has the option to stay
put
microsoft teams is now built into
windows and it will allow android apps
in its store
the clear winner during the pandemic in
the pc market
was the chromebook and microsoft
introduces windows 11
one of the big features is android apps
through the amazon app store
effectively microsoft is getting to
parity
with the chromebook with its whole
variety of mobile apps on
a personal computer it does feel like
microsoft wants to make sure that
chromebook has one less advantage which
is
a whole big variety thanks to the
support for android
they made some hard decisions on
security and i think that's
great for the world i'm sure that was
not an easy decision to say
let's raise the bar and the minimum
hardware spec to be more secure
despite the size of the market share it
has in pcs
windows will have to keep evolving as
more of the world increasingly uses
mobile devices
including many things we used to need
pcs for we want it to be
the democratizing force for technology
meaning for consumers
it's the easiest place for you to come
and try new
innovations new technology that's coming
things we haven't thought about
mixed reality you know augmented reality
you know second of all things like
quantum computing i think that's going
to open up a whole ability
to do you know sophisticated tasks on
your computer you've never been able to
do before
i'm interested to see with microsoft's
continual improvement and its speech
technology and its cognitive services
and with its acquisition of now nuance
where is microsoft going to go with all
these great resources
to take windows and its interface
in a direction that it really needs to
go that goes
far beyond just tweaking around with
where the icons appear in the taskbar
the version of windows that i would love
to see is i don't see them take
windows annoyances and just fix them no
new features
just fix the quirks get it stable
get it secure i don't need a change to
the color of the start menu
i don't need rounded versus squared
windows what i need
is not to have to restart my pc once a
week because i can't find the printer
this brand has meaning globally there's
a reason why
all those pcs are on windows it is an
ecosystem of
users software developers hardware
makers
retailers so replacing it's going to be
challenging and google and apple are
going to try