The Microsoft Corporation was founded by partners Bill Gates and Paul Allen with the vision of producing cutting edge software. Beginning with programming challenges in the 1970s, Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen started a company with a dream to produce software on the latest technology they could find. They would begin with writing basic instructions for nothing more than small circuit boards. Today, the challenge of developing the world's most sophisticated software extends much further than the dorm room of a young Harvard student. Growth and success are two words that a company known as Microsoft has come to be very familiar with.
By being proactive to software technology, Microsoft is able to push the market while it watches other software manufacturers follow. In fact, one of the difficulties they have is outdating themselves and making a product that will operate with current hardware technologies. Their product life cycle continually revolves around themselves. Bill Gates is the leader in the midst of development and direction in relation to which products should take, and Total Quality Management (customer satisfaction and continual process improvement) plays a big role in a robust product life cycle. In the end, their final goal is "To enable people and businesses throughout the world realize their own potential." .
The challenges that Microsoft face are a series of competitors that once had a competitive edge over products that Microsoft eventually took away. First, IBM was seeking to develop a successor to MS-DOS. Second, Novel, the leader in networking software had a head start with first class connectivity software, and third, software firms such as Borland offered high quality programs at prices that were less expensive than Microsoft's. The challenges they would face in the years to come wouldn't be as much financial, but rather writing software that will surpass customer expectations.
