Quiz Of The Week: How Well Do You Know Microsoft?

Microsoft may not be the force it once was, but the software giant is still a massive presence in the industry.

Best known for Windows, Microsoft was firmly established when IBM used its operating system on the PC, opening millions of offices to waves of applications and systems software from Redmond. Since then, the company has adapted – with varying degrees of success – to every major technology shift, from the growth of the Internet to the birth of the smartphone.

Gates and Windows

Founded in the 1970s around the new craze for microcomputers, the company was steered by Bill Gates in ever-more lucrative directions, with Windows cementing its success.

In recent years, under the leadership of Steve Ballmer,  Microsoft has become a target for criticism.

How can its licensing model for Microsoft Office survive in the cloud? And how can Windows Phone compete against Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android?

And the cloud – how can Microsoft’s offering here compete against the ability of open source solutions to scale out at will? Microsoft has a lot of very strong cards to play, but we’re moving into a world where its traditional margins will be squeezed.

What will Microsoft do? Take a look at its history and see the diversity of tactics Microsoft has employed in the past.

Try the quiz! 

And if you like it, try some of our other quizzes…