April 4, 1975: Childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft Corporation, a software company destined to become a tech behemoth — and a major Apple frenemy.
A few years later, Microsoft will break through to the mainstream with Excel and Word, becoming a key developer of Macintosh software. Then comes the Windows operating system, looking suspiciously Apple-like. After that, Microsoft and Apple embark upon a long-running feud.
April 2, 1979: Microsoft releases its first hardware product, a microprocessor card that plugs into the Apple II computer.
Coming several years before the first version of Windows, the Z80 SoftCard becomes a big hit for Microsoft. It lets the Apple II run programs designed for the CP/M operating system, a popular OS for business software.
Microsoft on Tuesday revealed its brand-new Family Safety app designed to make it easier to protect and monitor your loved ones.
Family Safety will be part of the upcoming Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) overhaul, and will include features like location sharing, driver safety stats, activity reporting, and more.
Microsoft is keen to go ahead with this year’s Build conference, but the event will now be online-only, the company confirmed on Friday. Build was scheduled to take place in Seattle from May 19 to May 21. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced Microsoft to go completely digital instead.
Microsoft’s announcement came just before Apple announced that WWDC 2020 will also go ahead with “an all-new online format.”
Microsoft Outlook’s newest update is out on iOS with new text formatting options. It’s now possible to use bold, italic, and underlined text — as well as inline links — in your emails.
Microsoft is taking a new approach to Office on mobile, starting with a unified app that brings Word, Excel, and PowerPoint together for the first time. You can download and use it for free today on iPhone.
February 14, 1995: Apple Computer extends a lawsuit against developer San Francisco Canyon Company to also include Microsoft and Intel. The lawsuit concerns code allegedly stolen from Apple and used to improve Microsoft’s Video for Windows technology.
The lawsuit comes to a head with Apple threatening a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Microsoft. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates threatens to cancel Office for Mac.
February 11, 2010: With iPad excitement reaching a fever pitch, Steve Jobs’ old frenemy Bill Gates wades in with his own opinion of Apple’s tablet.
His view? It’s kinda meh.
“There’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it,'” he tells one interviewer.
Microsoft’s combined email and calendar application finally offers full support for iPad multitasking. Outlook now supports Split View, so users can have their mail and calendar open next to each other.
February 4, 2008: Steve Jobs reportedly considers buying the search engine Yahoo. Apple is one of several interested companies, following reports that Microsoft offered $44.6 billion for web portal the previous week.
Nothing ultimately comes of it, but Apple’s interest is later confirmed in an authorized biography of Apple’s CEO and co-founder.
