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Microsoft Corporation: MS-DOS and Windows
Development Projects
Edgardo
Donovan
FIN 501
Dr. Herbert
Weinraub
Module 5 –
Session Long Project
Monday, March 19,
2007
Microsoft Corporation: MS-DOS and Windows
Development Projects
"Microsoft
Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, licensing, and support of
software products for various computing devices worldwide. Microsoft was
founded in 1975 by William H. Gates III and is headquartered in
Two
of the pivotal projects which greatly impacted the success of Microsoft as it
grew into an information technology leader were the development of the MS-DOS
and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Both of these projects were
capitalized in different ways. The marketing and distribution costs of the
first project were the responsibility of Microsoft’s joint venture partner IBM.
The latter was capitalized through a mix of venture capital funding and
existing software revenues. Although both projects were resounding successes
the Windows development project incurred costly development overruns.
"In
early November of 1980, the corporate odd coupe officially signed the
paperwork. Microsoft would develop the software for IBM’s first personal
computer and supply the vital disk operating system or DOS. The schedule would
be brutal." (Wallace)
Microsoft
Corporation is one of the most dominant companies of the information age. It
rose from humble beginnings initially as a friendship between Bill Gates and
Paul Allen who after many years of writing code in their high school computer
room continued their passionate pursuit at Harvard University where they wrote
the first BASIC operating system for the Altair which was arguably the world’s
first commercial micro/personal computer. Today Microsoft is a global
multi-billion dollar information technology/entertainment behemoth which
dominates the majority of markets it chooses to compete in.
"Gates
could now turn his attention to what would prove to be Microsoft’s most
ambitious and difficult undertaking – the development of Windows. Before the
first version of Windows was finished, those programmers would spend some 80
work-years designing, writing, and testing Windows, in contrast to the 6
work-year investment originally approved by Ballmer." (Wallace)
Unlike
most IT projects which do not immediately lead to profitable returns if that
happens at all MS-DOS and Windows were immediately profitable product
offerings. Therefore, extensive capital reserves to sustain a 3-5 year market
penetration campaign prior to attaining profitability were not required thus
giving Microsoft a unique capitalization
advantage.
Both
projects were highly secretive and it is hard to imagine whether or not
Microsoft would have been able to maintain secrecy if it had gone after
institutional funds more aggressively. In the MS-DOS development project
Microsoft was bound by quasi-DOD security clearance type restrictions imposed
by IBM which was in a race to develop a personal computer with the goal of
cornering the market. During the Windows development project Microsoft was
competing against Apple, Microsoft, and a variety of other vendors in an
attempt to make its soon to be released GUI operating system the industry
standard. Given the aforementioned conditions private funding without direct
tie-ins to those projects could have been an option if Microsoft had wanted
have a greater amount of contingency related liquid funds at its disposal.
Two
of the pivotal projects which greatly impacted the success of Microsoft as it
grew into an information technology leader were the development of the MS-DOS
and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Both of these projects were
capitalized in different ways. The marketing and distribution costs of the
first project were the responsibility of Microsoft’s joint venture partner IBM.
The latter was capitalized through a mix of venture capital funding and
existing software revenues. Although both projects were resounding successes
the Windows development project incurred costly development overruns.
I. Works Cited
Wallace,
James, Erickson, Jim. Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire. 1997.
Microsoft
Corporation. About
Us.
Microsoft.com, 2007.
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