Microsoft’s Top Ten ‘Innovations’

Written By
Jim Rapoza
Jim Rapoza
Published: Jun 10, 2008
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
1 minute read
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Microsoft Innovation

Back during Microsoft’s antitrust battles, one of the arguments that the company made to defend itself was that antitrust penalties would stifle Microsoft’s ability to innovate. At the time this drew more than a few chuckles from onlookers who struggled to find much in the way of innovations from the software giant.

And this is true on the technical side. It can definitely be hard to come up with any significant technical innovations from Microsoft. But that doesn’t mean Microsoft isn’t innovative.

During the Bill Gates era Microsoft has come up with truly unique, innovative and effective business processes and competitive strategies that have helped make it one of the most powerful companies in the world. In many ways they’ve written the book on how to build and maintain a dominating monopoly.

So in honor of Bill Gates’ impending retirement here’s my list of 10 “innovations” that have helped propel Microsoft to the top of the technology market. Take a look at and let me know what would be on your list.

Jim Rapoza

Jim Rapoza

Content Writer

Jim Rapoza, Chief Technology Analyst, eWEEK.For nearly fifteen years, Jim Rapoza has evaluated products and technologies in almost every technology category for eWEEK. Mr Rapoza's current technology focus is on all categories of emerging information technology though he continues to focus on core technology areas that include: content management systems, portal applications, Web publishing tools and security. Mr. Rapoza has coordinated several evaluations at enterprise organizations, including USA Today and The Prudential, to measure the capability of products and services under real-world conditions and against real-world criteria. Jim Rapoza's award-winning weekly column, Tech Directions, delves into all areas of technologies and the challenges of managing and deploying technology today.

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