0: last time we looked at how Microsoft

2: went from distributing software on paper

5: tape to becoming the dominant force in

8: the consumer software industry up

10: through their launch of Windows XP in 2001.

13: Windows XP was incredibly

17: successful in spite of Microsoft's

19: introduction of the unpopular product

23: activation feature, designed to stop

26: piracy. it was installed on an estimated

29: 85% of desktop computers at one point

34: though another estimate put the

37: proportion of illegitimate installations

39: as 35%. Poor Bill! not that the European

44: Union had much sympathy for Microsoft

47: when it slaps the company with a half

49: billion euro fine in 2004, citing abuse

54: of its dominance with proprietary code.

57: Microsoft was also forced to ship

60: Windows XP without Media Player for the

63: European market.

64: sound familiar? not to be deterred though

68: by royally teasing off regulators on at

71: least two continents by this point

73: Microsoft pushed forward with new

75: products like Zune and Windows Vista

78: ,both of which flopped harder than the

81: Star Wars Holiday Special.

82: zoom was a portable music player and by

86: most accounts a really cool one. too bad

89: that by the time Zune was released in

91: late 2006 iPod had already become

95: synonymous with taking your music with

98: you.

98: Windows Vista that same year was in a

102: way the other side of the same coin. in

105: the sense that it was released with a

106: lot of fanfare but was quickly panned by

110: veteran tech reviewers and novice

112: computer users alike. although it looked

115: modern with appealing features like the

118: Aero theme and desktop widgets at launch

122: it lacked driver support, it was unstable

125: it required more processing power than

127: mere mortals could afford and it

130: incorporated some extremely unpopular

132: DRM

133: technologies, forcing Microsoft to offer

136: Vista license owners the option to

139: downgrade back to Windows XP. oops! the

144: mid-2000s weren't a total disaster for

146: Microsoft though. the Xbox 360, released

149: in late 2005, went on to become a true

153: juggernaut in the world of console

155: gaming with its comfortable

157: intuitive controller that remains

159: popular to this day. a well implemented

162: online experience through Xbox Live, a

164: large game library and solid performance

168: at a lower cost than Sony's PlayStation 3

171: , the Xbox 360 even outsold the ps3

176: despite Sony's greater experience in the

178: console market. later in 2009 Microsoft

183: finally released a worthy successor to

186: the then 8-year old Windows XP, simply

189: named Windows 7, which retained the

193: visual appeal of Windows Vista but

195: featured vast improvements to

197: performance and stability, as well as

200: modern features like better support for

202: multi-core CPUs and the ability to snap

205: windows to the sides of the screen.

208: in fact, in spite of Microsoft's free

211: upgrade offer to Windows 10, Windows 7 is

214: still the most used version of Windows

217: as of January 2017. but with smartphones,

221: especially the iPhone from rival Apple

224: Computer, exploding in popularity around

227: this time Microsoft knew it couldn't

230: focus primarily on the traditional PC

233: space forever and rolled out

235: Windows Phone 7 in 2010, with subsequent mobile

239: versions of Windows in the following

241: years.

243: unfortunately for Microsoft, Windows

245: Phone, having been beaten to the punch by

247: IOS and Android, more or less went the

251: same way as the Zune. so app developers

253: didn't bother supporting Windows Phone,

256: completing Microsoft's failure boogaloo.

260: more successful, though not entirely

262: without controversy, was Windows 8 in

265: 2012 which Microsoft

267: designed to function on traditional

269: desktops and laptops but also tablet PCs

273: with an interface designed to be more

275: modern and cool, with terminology like

279: live tiles.

281: unfortunately this concept did not

284: translate well to the millions of people

286: who still use mice and keyboards and

289: Windows 8 struggled to gain popularity.

292: I mean you can't just take away the start

294: button and expect everybody to be ok

296: with that!

297: maybe that's why Windows 8.1 was a free

300: upgrade Microsoft's Hardware design

303: for Windows 8 did a little better

304: though, and I'm not talking about the arm

306: powered Surface RT that bombed, but about

310: the full flat surface tablets which were

313: also introduced in 2012. since they ran

316: full versions of Windows versus the more

318: limited mobile OSs on competing tablets

321: like the iPad, Microsoft started to gain

324: traction in the mobile computing scene,

327: in spite of NFL announcers calling them

330: iPads as they watched coaches draw up plays

333: on the sidelines. it was also in 2012

336: that Microsoft started signing people up

338: for Microsoft accounts, enabling a single

342: sign-in across devices as part of its

345: push to get users into the Microsoft

347: ecosystem. that included services like

350: office 365, its subscription-based version

354: of the beloved productivity suite

356: ,Onedrive cloud storage and Skype, which

360: it had purchased in 2011. indeed

363: Microsoft made seamlessness between its

365: own services a priority with the launch

368: of the Windows Store alongside Windows 8

370: as well as with the Xbox One in 2013

374: ,which was hyped as a do-it-all living

377: room box with enhanced connectivity with

379: Windows rather than just another game

382: console. the concept was taken even

385: further in 2015 with the new Windows 10

388: featuring tight integration with the

390: Cortana voice assistant, Microsoft's

393: answer to Siri, and compatibility with

396: the universal Windows platform which

398: allows certain applications

400: to run on both desktop and mobile

402: Windows as well as the Xbox one and

405: Hololens a smart glasses product that

408: Microsoft is currently trying to get off

410: the ground. of course, with its fingers in

412: so many different parts of the tech

414: industry, Microsoft is facing a lot more

417: competition than it did 10 or 15 years

419: ago. but could this mean that they'll be

421: more consistent about producing quality

424: products in the future, with their feet

426: to the fire?

426: maybe so, but Bing isn't the most

430: compelling argument for that hypothesis.

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