What does the colors mean on mapquest?
In October 2021, Microsoft announced that it began rolling out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support for Microsoft Teams calls in order to secure business communication while using video conferencing software. In the same month, Microsoft acquired Australia-based video editing software company Clipchamp. The increased necessity for remote work and distance education drove demand for cloud computing and grew the company's gaming sales. During the summer of 2015 the company lost $7.6 billion related to its mobile-phone business, firing 7,800 employees. 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. It has been criticized for monopolistic practices, and the company's software received criticism for problems with ease of use, robustness, and security. Most notably provides the Azure cloud computing platform, Microsoft SQL Server database software, and Visual Studio.
The public cloud computing platform provides access to quantum software and quantum hardware including trapped ion, neutral atom, and superconducting systems. The program authorizes the government to secretly access data of non-US citizens hosted by American companies without a warrant. Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices, including surveillance of employees, "Velvet Sweatshop" practices, tax manipulation, and antitrust violations. Amid the layoffs, Microsoft also closed its office in Pakistan and laid off its employees there as part of its move toward a software-as-a-service and AI operating model. In June 2024, Microsoft announced it would be laying off 1,000 employees from the company's mixed reality and Azure cloud computing divisions. This inquiry was part of broader efforts by the U.S. government to enforce guidelines on the power of major tech companies. In November 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an investigation into Microsoft, focusing on potential antitrust violations related to its cloud computing, AI, and cybersecurity businesses. In June 2022, Microsoft published the report on Russian cyber attacks and concluded that state-backed Russian hackers "have engaged in "strategic espionage" against governments, think tanks, businesses and aid groups" in 42 countries supporting Kyiv.
In August 1977, the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office of ASCII Microsoft. Childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen sought to make a business using their skills in computer programming. Its flagship hardware products are the Surface lineup of PCs and the Xbox brand of video game consoles, the latter including the Xbox network. Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems and the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 suite of productivity applications, which most notably include the Word word processor, Excel spreadsheet editor, and PowerPoint presentation program.
Here’s how much a Prime membership costs, and how to make the most of its benefits
Among grant recipients from the Asia-Pacific region are the Sri Lankan IT company Fortude, the Thailand-based Vulcan Coalition, and the Indonesian organization Kerjabilitas. Microsoft also supports initiatives through its AI for Accessibility grant program, providing funding to various global organizations that create technologies to enhance accessibility for individuals with disabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, announced that it had donated an initial batch of supplies, including 15,000 protection goggles, infrared thermometers, medical caps, and protective suits, to healthcare workers in Seattle, with further aid to come. Dave Norris ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter O, nicknamed the blibbet, but it was discarded. Baker stated "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the o and s to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed". Microsoft adopted the so-called spanian casino australia "Pac-Man Logo", designed by Scott Baker, on February 26, 1987, with the concept being similar to InFocus Corporation logo that was adapted a year earlier in 1986.
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2011: Microsoft Azure, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Microsoft Stores
The cuts affected multiple divisions, including Xbox, with 830 positions eliminated at its Redmond, Washington headquarters. In July 2025, Microsoft announced another round of layoffs, cutting approximately 9,000 employees in its largest workforce reduction in over two years. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and chief design officer Allen Adham also resigned. The layoffs primarily affected Activision Blizzard employees, but some Xbox and ZeniMax employees were also affected. In November 2018, the company won a $480 million military contract with the U.S. government to bring augmented reality (AR) headset technology into the weapon repertoires of American soldiers. Consequently, in February 2011 Microsoft released a corporate bond amounting to $2.25 billion with relatively low borrowing rates compared to government bonds.
2014: Windows 8/8.1, Xbox One, Outlook.com, and Surface devices
Microsoft provides information about reported bugs in its software to intelligence agencies of the United States government, prior to the public release of the fix. Amy Coleman, Microsoft's executive vice president and chief people officer, said the layoffs were not the result of employees being replaced by AI, but acknowledged that AI is changing how work is done. In May 2025, Microsoft announced that it is laying off more than 6,000 employees, around three percent of the company's entire workforce. Microsoft is one of only two U.S.-based companies that have a prime credit rating of AAA. The announcement came a day after hosting a Sting concert for 50 people, including Microsoft executives, in Davos, Switzerland. On October 7, Microsoft acquired Ally.io, a software service that measures companies' progress against OKRs, planning to incorporate it into its Viva family of employee experience products.
Microsoft is an outspoken opponent of the cap on H-1B visas, which allows companies in the U.S. to employ certain foreign workers. Microsoft noted in a blog post that the attack might have been prevented if the accounts in question had enabled multi-factor authentication, a defensive measure which is widely recommended in the industry, including by Microsoft itself. On a Friday afternoon in January 2024, Microsoft disclosed that a Russian state-sponsored group hacked into its corporate systems. The DoJ had "changed data request rules on alerting the Internet users about agencies accessing their information." In December 2013, the company made a statement to further emphasize that it takes its customers' privacy and data protection very seriously, saying that "government snooping potentially now constitutes an 'advanced persistent threat,' alongside sophisticated malware and cyber attacks". A Microsoft spokesperson stated that the corporation runs several programs that facilitate the sharing of such information with the U.S. government.