Corporations Emerge
"There are so many early guys who did so much good stuff in this industry, but who just didn't have the drive or the commitment to either building a company or leading one,"
- Bill Gates to the New York Times
"Bill Gates." Newsmakers, Gale,1993, p. 1.
Customers lining up in New York to purchase Microsoft products
Maiman, Rick. "Microsoft Windows 95 launch." 1995, Sygma/CORBIS. Computer History Museum.
In 1980, IBM asked Gates to help rewrite and overhaul software from another vendor. He co-designed the disk operating system (DOS) with shared rights to the software with IBM. This new version of the IBM PC entered the market, and Gate's software became the standard for IBM-compatible machines. By 1984, over two million copies of MS-DOS had been sold, setting the record for operating system software sales.
Competition Produces Legal Action
By the 1980s, Microsoft had developed into a monopoly of the operating systems market and had an overpowering share in the software market. 90% of the world's PCs used Microsoft operating systems, and the company dominated 44% of the software market in 1991-1992. The Federal Trade Commission investigated Microsoft's business, and Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft when Windows was released, claiming the program copied the "look and feel" of the Macintosh operating system. Ultimately, both cases were dismissed.
Sculley Saves Apple Inc.
Steve Jobs, John Sculley, and Steve Wozniak
Benson, Sonia. "From left to right, Apple Computer cofounder Steve Jobs, CEO John Sculley, and cofounder Steve..." UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History,vol. 6, UXL, 2009.
In the 1980s Apple Inc. began struggling as a company due to poor management and corporate disorganization. Jobs responded by bringing in John Sculley, president of Pepsi-Cola, as CEO to provide experienced management. Sculley ousted Jobs from the Macintosh team in 1985 after he identified Jobs as the source of chaos. After the company's profits stabilized, Scully conventionalized Apple by hiring other computer company executives and dropping the firm's emphasis on consumer sales.