If you asked 100 people to name the first thing that came in their head when you say computers, I bet over half of them would say Microsoft or Windows. This is implying that this company, and their operating system, have developed an insane amount of popularity. Despite this, however, here are five facts about the two that you probably didn’t know:
FACT 1
Did you know that Windows was not the name that Bill Gates was going to give his operating system? Gates almost named the operating system Interface Manager. However, the head of marketing ended up convincing him to name it Windows instead.
FACT 2
When Microsoft released their Windows XP operating system back in 2001, they wanted to give it a catchy title. The title they were going to release it with was going to be “Prepare to Fly”. However, the world would then experience one of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. History. The tagline “Prepare to Fly” was then dropped.
FACT 3
Microsoft can get dirty when they want to, and this fact proves it. Back in the early 2000’s, the company was noticing that other web browsers were starting to surpass Internet Explorer. One, in particular, was Opera and the company decided to do something very questionable. They actually intentionally made the domain msn.com not work. This was done to try and drive users to their web browser.
FACT 4
All website’s with users and profile pictures have default avatar’s. Everyone most likely knows this, but did you know what the avatar was for Outlook 2010? The avatar seen on that software is actually a silhouette of a young Bill Gates when he was arrested for speeding!
FACT 5
When Microsoft released their first version of Windows Update, they named it the Critical Update Notification Tool. They had to change this name, however, to the Critical Update Notification Utility. The reason for this is the acronym that the former spelled out, and see for yourself what it is.
