Microsoft celebrates 30 years as a business, 20 years of Windows

Microsoft may have chosen to ignore the 10th anniversary of Windows 95 earlier this year, but the company hasn't missed a chance to celebrate two other milestones: its own 30th birthday, and the 20th anniversary of Windows. While reminding the world of how much Windows has improved since 1.0 may help them appreciate XP despite all its warts, I find it more amazing that the company has actually been around for 30 years. It's certainly gone through a lot in that time, from being a press darling, as much for its geeky young founder (what was Bill Gates, 12, when he founded the company?) as its software prowess, to being the company everyone loved to hate to being, well, seems like that part hasn't changed much. Gates himself has certainly changed, going from geeky wunderkind to ruthless CEO to elder statesman and the world's largest philanthropist.  Regardless of what happens next, Microsoft will remain an important company for some time, so it'll certainly be interesting to check back in another 30 years.