In 1983, Microsoft introduced its first Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, which was not released until November 1985. Microsoft struggled with Windows for the first few years. This was inspired by the same Xerox PARC research project that Apple used to move an arrow across a graphical desktop. Microsoft developed a graphical interface that ran on top of DOS called Interface Manager, later renamed Windows on its release in 1985. The early 1980s saw both IBM's and Microsoft's fortunes soar.

Called PC-DOS by IBM, Microsoft also marketed its own version, MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). That year, the company was contracted by IBM to develop an operating system for IBM's personal computer. But by 1976, they left to devote more time to their own fledgling company, Microsoft, which they incorporated in 1981. Gates and Allen created an interpreter for BASIC - which was then a mainframe programming language - to use with the Altair. Gates contacted the manufacturer Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) and offered to write a program for the new computer. Harvard University classmates Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft in 1975 to develop a compiler for the Altair 8800, a very primitive early computer. Microsoft's corporate headquarters is located in Redmond, Wash., and it has offices in more than 60 countries.

It is also a leading provider of cloud computing services, video games, computer and gaming hardware, search and other online services. Microsoft is the largest vendor of computer software in the world.

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