Research Paper on:
Microsoft Corporation

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
about Microsoft for years, grumbling all the while when we purchase computers with Microsoft operating systems and Internet Explorer loaded on. Many have forgotten the early days of the  PC when a PC purchase only brought a blank machine without any way to run it included. In the years since, Microsofts Word - given away because the company  could not sell it in the early years - has become industry standard, along with other application software such as Excel(r), PowerPoint(r) and Outlook(r). Microsoft remains the company "we  love to hate," but it also remains the leader of the industry it created. Mission and Values Microsofts mission statement is a simple  one: "...out mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential" (Our Mission, 2006). The companys values are well stated: ...we value  integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big  challenges ... We hold ourselves accountable ... by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality (Our Mission, 2006). Company History  Paul Allen and Bill Gates attended the same high school at a time when a small computer was a box sporting lights on the front and dealing with all  of the input or output information in terms of 1 or 0, leaving interpretation to the user. There was no "operating system," and in fact such a concept was  totally foreign. Gates and Allen conceived the idea of a uniform operating system on which application software could be written for and run on an ongoing basis. They