Microsoft Essays - Steve Jobs, Personal Computing,

Microsoft In the early 80s the world so the initial boom of the computer era. The first personal computers were sold and the main players of the business were sorted out. Two of the prominent figures were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Each pioneering their own front, the two entered the 90s as the computer world celebrities. By the mid 90s each of these tycoons' life had taken many turns and twists, albeit for the better usually. Bill Gates' 1995 was a bit hectic, this was the year of the huge unveiling of windows 95. After many delayed attempts to get it out Gates released windows 95 in August without Microsoft Plus, as had been earlier said, this was due to time restrictions as changing windows 95 to 96 would be a waste of money and probably more seriously the worst move commercially any company would ever make. With the release of Windows 95 the world saw the largest over media onslaught to sell a product. Also with the release of Windows came Microsoft's foray into the Internet market share. In hindsight this perhaps may not have been the best move to make. 1996 passed with much criticism of Gates' operating system, people said it was unstable, hard to figure out and anything else possible. 1997 came around with rumours of a new operating system in the works dubbed Chicago. This was perhaps a rumour but more likely the beginning of Windows 98. In 1998 Gates released this newer version of Windows 95, which made the world Gates' subject for the biggest beta test ever. Windows 98 was just an upgrade of 95. Upgrade may be an understatement, but on the surface it is almost identical, underneath they are worlds apart. Recently Microsoft's ghosts have come to haunt them. Netscape, their main rival in the Internet division, had started an Anti-trust case in the federal supreme court. The accusations spawned from a dispute where Netscape's browser were being loaded onto pre made Compaq computers and Microsoft did not approve of this. This case has recently come to the end of its first stage with Microsoft falling guilty. The consequences have yet to come, but are foreseen in the coming months. This most likely will not spell the end of Gates' empire rather actually may boost his worth by making him CEO of 4 giant specialised companies. Steve Jobs, a cofounder of Apple Computers Inc., has also had good fortune with the computer world, but also had his fair share of hiccups. In 1985 after the Macintosh had had troubles selling as much as wished Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple. From here he went on to try and rebuild a new frontier in media, 3D animation. After leaving Apple he formed a new company, Next Inc. this was a hardware/software development company. He then went on in 1986 to purchase a controlling share in Pixar, a LucasFilm branch that dealt with 3D animation. In 1989 Next released its first computer at $10,000 which was incompatible and did not sell well, 4 years later they shut down their hardware division. In 1996 Apple bought out Next. Inc. and uses Jobs as a part time consultant. This aids Apple to become one of the top players in the world of computers in 1998. Some of Pixar's achievements are; Toy Story, the first full length film created soley by computers. "A Bug's Life" released and is a hit. And February 1999, Technical Academy Award to Pixar's David DiFrancesco for "pioneering efforts in the development of laser film recording technology". These achievements of both these men have helped to fuel the second wave of the computer revolution. The third is on the horizon as the information superhighway's potential will be seen in the next couple of years.