The Microsoft Corporation, located near Seattle, Washington, is a large, powerful, and profitable company that creates computer software. The tremendous success of Microsoft, which grew in the 1990s to become one of the world's most powerful corporations, is viewed by the world with a wide variety of opinions. Since its formation in 1975, the company has contributed in a major way to the popularization of the PC—the personal computer (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4)—and to growth and improvement in the software that makes computers useful. It has become a major power in the world economy and had a major role in the quickly rising stock market of the 1990s. Many, therefore, see Microsoft as a positive force, creating progress and prosperity for all. Others see the company as a ruthless and unethical giant, crushing competition in order to gain enormous profits for...