Editing Microsoft (section)

===1995–2007: Foray into the Web, Windows 95, Windows XP, and Xbox===
[[File:300lx.jpg|thumb|left|In 1996, Microsoft released [[Windows Embedded Compact#History|Windows CE]], a version of the operating system meant for personal digital assistants and other tiny computers, shown here on the [[HP 300LX]].]]
Following Bill Gates's internal "Internet Tidal Wave memo" on May 26, 1995, Microsoft began to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into [[computer network]]ing and the [[World Wide Web]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/2009-1032-995681.html |title=Victor: Software empire pays high price |last=Borland |first=John |date=April 15, 2003 |work=[[CNET]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116150815/http://news.cnet.com/2009-1032-995681.html |archive-date=November 16, 2011 |access-date=July 16, 2010}}</ref> With a few exceptions of new companies, like [[Netscape]], Microsoft was the only major and established company that acted fast enough to be a part of the World Wide Web practically from the start. Other companies like [[Borland]], [[WordPerfect]], [[Novell]], [[IBM]] and [[Lotus Software|Lotus]], being much slower to adapt to the new situation, would give Microsoft market dominance.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiDsEgYKXRAC&q=Bill+Gates+1994+Internet+blow+over+Netscape+Borland+WordPerfect+Novell+IBM+Lotus&pg=PA11 |title=Network Security Foundations: Technology Fundamentals for IT Success |access-date=March 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323120021/https://books.google.no/books?id=qiDsEgYKXRAC&pg=PA11&dq=Bill+Gates+1994+Internet+blow+over+Netscape+Borland+WordPerfect+Novell+IBM+Lotus&hl=no&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjliaaH-IbhAhVHw4sKHRIlCnkQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Bill%20Gates%201994%20Internet%20blow%20over%20Netscape%20Borland%20WordPerfect%20Novell%20IBM%20Lotus&f=false |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |url-status=live |isbn=9780782151367 |last1=Strebe |first1=Matthew |date=February 20, 2006|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref>

The company released [[Windows 95]] on August 24, 1995, featuring [[Preemption (computing)#PREEMPTIVE|pre-emptive multitasking]], a completely new user interface with a novel [[Start menu|start button]], and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API.<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Smart Computing |publisher=Sandhills Publishing Company |volume=4 |issue=3 |url=http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/95win/95win02/95win02.asp&guid= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040706233547/http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Farchive%2F95win%2F95win02%2F95win02.asp&guid= |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 6, 2004 |title=New And Improved |last=Cope |first=Jim |date=March 1996 |access-date=July 16, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/windows95systemp00matt |title=Windows 95 Programming Secrets |last=Pietrek |first=Matt |author-link=Matt Pietrek |publisher=IDG |isbn=978-1-56884-318-6 |date=March 1996 |access-date=July 17, 2010 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|20|date=November 2012}} Windows 95 came bundled with the [[Online service provider|online service]] [[MSN]], which was at first intended to be a competitor to the Internet,{{Dubious|date=May 2019|reason="The Internet" is a huge network of cables, microwave links and switching equipment, and even Microsoft at the time didn't have the financial means to replicate it, nor would there have been any business reason to do so.}} and (for OEMs) [[Internet Explorer]], a [[Web browser]]. Internet Explorer was not bundled with the retail Windows 95 boxes, because the boxes were printed before the team finished the Web browser, and instead were included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://winsupersite.com/windows-live/msn-inside-story |title=MSN: The Inside Story |work=Supersite for Windows |last=Thurrott |first=Paul |publisher=[[Penton (company)|Penton Media]] |date=May 19, 2005 |access-date=July 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523202530/http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/msn_inside_01.asp |archive-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> Backed by a high-profile marketing campaign<ref>Edwards, Benj (August 24, 2020).[https://www.howtogeek.com/685668/windows-95-turns-25-heres-how-it-transformed-pcs/ "Windows 95 Turns 25: When Windows Went Mainstream."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105020917/https://www.howtogeek.com/685668/windows-95-turns-25-heres-how-it-transformed-pcs/|date=January 5, 2021}} ''How To Geek''. Retrieved November 29, 2020.</ref> and what ''[[The New York Times]]'' called "the splashiest, most frenzied, most expensive introduction of a computer product in the industry's history,"<ref>Chew, Jonathan (August 24, 2015). [https://fortune.com/2015/08/24/20-years-microsoft-windows-95/ "Microsoft Launched This Product 20 Years Ago and Changed the World"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021131927/https://fortune.com/2015/08/24/20-years-microsoft-windows-95/ |date=October 21, 2020 }} ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]''. Retrieved November 29, 2020.</ref> Windows 95 quickly became a success.<ref>Wild, Chris (August 24, 2015).[https://mashable.com/2015/08/24/windows-95-launch/?europe=true "Aug. 24, 1995: Launching Windows 95."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127173449/https://mashable.com/2015/08/24/windows-95-launch/?europe=true |date=November 27, 2020 }} ''[[Mashable]]''. Retrieved November 29, 2020.</ref> Branching out into new markets in 1996, Microsoft and [[General Electric]]'s [[NBC]] unit created a new [[24/7 service|24/7]] cable news channel, [[MSNBC]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/1996/07/15_mpp.html |title=Marketplace: News Archives |work=Marketplace |publisher=American Public Media |date=July 15, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040823174040/http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/1996/07/15_mpp.html |archive-date=August 23, 2004}}</ref> Microsoft created [[Windows Embedded Compact#Versions|Windows CE 1.0]], a new OS designed for devices with low memory and other constraints, such as [[personal digital assistant]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/windowsce/ |last=Tilly |first=Chris |title=The History of Microsoft Windows CE |work=HPC:Factor |access-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921144050/http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/windowsce/ |archive-date=September 21, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> In October 1997, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal [[United States district court|District Court]], stating that Microsoft violated an agreement signed in 1994 and asked the court to stop the bundling of [[Internet Explorer]] with Windows.<ref name="Allan 2001" />{{Rp|323–324|date=November 2012}}
[[File:Microsoft IntelliMouse 2001.jpg|thumb|200x200px|While primarily focused on software, Microsoft also produced a number of successful PC accessories, such as the [[IntelliMouse]] computer mice shown here]]
[[File:Xbox-console.jpg|thumb|Microsoft released the first installment in the [[Xbox]] series of consoles in 2001. The [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]], graphically powerful compared to its rivals, featured a standard PC's 733&nbsp;MHz Intel Pentium III processor.]]
On January 13, 2000, Bill Gates handed over the CEO position to [[Steve Ballmer]], an old college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, while creating a new position for himself as Chief [[Software architect|Software Architect]].<ref name="Allan 2001" />{{Rp|111, 228|date=November 2012}}<ref name="BBCTL" /> Various companies including Microsoft formed the [[Trusted Computing Group|Trusted Computing Platform Alliance]] in October 1999 to (among other things) increase security and protect [[intellectual property]] through identifying changes in hardware and software. Critics decried the alliance as a way to enforce indiscriminate restrictions over how consumers use software, and over how computers behave, and as a form of [[digital rights management]]: for example, the scenario where a computer is not only secured for its owner but also secured against its owner as well.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/technology/20CODE.html?pagewanted=1 |title=Fears of Misuse of Encryption System Are Voiced |work=[[The New York Times]] |last=Markoff |first=John |date=June 20, 2002 |access-date=July 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511201709/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/technology/20CODE.html?pagewanted=1 |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fms27/papers/2003-stajano-shifting.pdf |last=Stajano |first=Frank |chapter=Security for Whom? The Shifting Security Assumptions of Pervasive Computing |title=Software Security — Theories and Systems |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science  |volume=2609 |pages=16–27 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |year=2003 |access-date=July 6, 2010 |doi=10.1007/3-540-36532-X_2 |isbn=978-3-540-00708-1 |citeseerx=10.1.1.127.7219 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128164236/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fms27/papers/2003-stajano-shifting.pdf |archive-date=January 28, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of ''[[United States v. Microsoft Corp.]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=United States v. Microsoft |url=https://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/ms_index.htm |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice |access-date=August 5, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050804043753/http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/ms_index.htm |archive-date=August 4, 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref> calling the company an "abusive monopoly."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Thomas Penfield |url=https://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm |title=U.S. vs. Microsoft findings of fact |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice |date=November 5, 1999 |access-date=August 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815034900/http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm |archive-date=August 15, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Microsoft later settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004.<ref name="CBSCHRON" />

On October 25, 2001, Microsoft released [[Windows XP]], unifying the mainstream and NT lines of OS under the NT codebase.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-xp2/wininfo-short-takes-windows-xp-launch-special-edition.aspx |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526200156/http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-xp2/wininfo-short-takes-windows-xp-launch-special-edition.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 26, 2012 |title=WinInfo Short Takes: Windows XP Launch Special Edition |last=Thurrott |first=Paul |work=Windows IT Pro |publisher=Penton Media |date=October 26, 2001 |access-date=July 16, 2010}}</ref> The company released the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] later that year, entering the [[video game console]] market dominated by [[Sony]] and [[Nintendo]].<ref>{{Cite press release |date=February 7, 2002 |title=NPD Reports Annual 2001 U.S. Interactive Entertainment Sales Shatter Industry Record |url=http://www.npd.com/dynamic/releases/press_020207.htm |location=[[Port Washington, New York]] |publisher=[[The NPD Group]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040814133238/http://www.npd.com/dynamic/releases/press_020207.htm |archive-date=August 14, 2004 |access-date=January 28, 2015}}</ref> In March 2004 the [[European Union]] brought [[Microsoft Corp. v. Commission|antitrust legal action against the company]], citing it abused its dominance with the Windows OS, resulting in a judgment of €497&nbsp;million ($613&nbsp;million) and requiring Microsoft to produce new versions of Windows XP without [[Windows Media Player]]: Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/03/24/microsoft.eu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060413082435/http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/03/24/microsoft.eu |archive-date=April 13, 2006 |title=Microsoft hit by record EU fine |work=CNN |date=March 25, 2004 |access-date=August 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Commission Decision of 24.03.2004 relating to a proceeding under Article 82 of the EC Treaty (Case COMP/C-3/37.792 Microsoft) |publisher=Commission of the European Communities |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62004A0201:EN:NOT |date=April 21, 2004 |access-date=August 5, 2005 |format=PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011131514/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62004A0201:EN:NOT |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2005, the company's second video game console, the [[Xbox 360]], was released. There were two versions, a basic version for $299.99 and a deluxe version for $399.99.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://money.cnn.com/2005/08/17/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm |title=Microsoft sets price for Xbox 360—Aug. 17, 2005 |last=Morris |first=Game Over is a weekly column by Chris |website=money.cnn.com |access-date=January 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425204850/http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/17/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm |archive-date=April 25, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Increasingly present in the hardware business following Xbox, Microsoft 2006 released the [[Zune]] series of digital media players, a successor of its previous software platform [[Portable Media Center]]. These expanded on previous hardware commitments from Microsoft following its original [[Microsoft Mouse]] in 1983; as of 2007 the company sold the best-selling wired keyboard ([[Microsoft ergonomic keyboards|Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000]]), mouse ([[IntelliMouse]]), and desktop webcam ([[LifeCam]]) in the United States. That year the company also launched the Surface "digital table", later renamed [[Microsoft PixelSense|PixelSense]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.microsoft.com/2007/08/22/a-microsoft-milestone-hardware-celebrates-25-years-of-proven-success/|title=A Microsoft Milestone: Hardware Celebrates 25 Years of Proven Success|date=August 22, 2007|website=Stories}}</ref>