Introduction
Microsoft Corporation was established in 1975 as a supplier of the DOS operating system and developer of programming languages for the first IBM personal computer. Twenty-six years later, it has literally become the most powerful force in the software industry, earning chairman and co-founder (with Paul Allen) Bill Gates millions of dollars and a significant place in technology history. Today the company is the worldwide leader for software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing.
Strengths One of Microsoft's greatest strengths is the company's sheer momentum. It has never slowed down, and continues to squash competitors left and right by being the first - or at least the most heavily promoted - in every market it conquers. Certainly, Bill Gates doesn't give up -- his products may not be the best upon first release, but he continues to improve on them year after year and push new versions out the door at an almost alarming rate. This persistence has surely paid off, and Microsoft definitely isn't going anywhere. Microsoft 'has created tremendous value for America' with all the innovative software products it has developed, not to mention the thousands of jobs it has directly and indirectly created for Americans (Pohlman and Gardiner, p. 63). Who can remember, anymore, what life was like without Windows? We now have an entire generation of people who have never lived in a time when there was not Windows, and who wouldn't know what do to if faced with a black AS/400 screen and function key commands as their only mode of computing.
Weaknesses
Historically, Microsoft simply hasn't had the talent it needs in-house to continually develop and maintain technologies needed in the marketplace. In short, the company has made it big by buying other peoples' ideas. Still today, Microsoft's staff lacks the experience to handle such concepts as enterprise software and distributed...