Paul Allen and Bill of Gate went to the same school before they founded Micro-Soft in 1975. In 1974 they already presented the programming language BASIC for the Altair 8080 as Lakeside Programmers Group. They got a contract at MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) after that they should provide BASIC as supplement software for the Altair. At first Allen and Gates programmed Fortran and COBOL into assembler for the Altair 8080 and ported the BASIC interpreter for the TRS 80 of Tandy. In 1978 Microsoft licensed a development licence for UNIX from AT&T. Because AT&T had protected the name of the operating system UNIX, Microsoft named the UNIX variant of her own as Xenix. 1980 the enterprise moves with now 38 employees to Seattle and reaches 8 million U.S. dollars sales volume. IBM searched for his microcomputers for an operating system which fits for the mass market. At first IBM consulted Digital Research without success and after that to Microsoft which had been strengthened by Steve Ballmer in meanwhile in organisation and finances. But Microsoft had no own operating system and bought therefore Q-DOS from Seattle Computer Products for 50,000 U.S. dollars. IBM licensed it under the name MS-DOS. The IBM PC became an overwhelming success. The sales volume and profit of Microsoft increased further in consequence this one. Bill Gates got a contract with SCO to bring out a UNIX variant for the IBM PCs. First with publication of 80286 processor this turned out well and Xenix was possible. Microsoft cared primarily about the OEM business and SCO was responsible for the customization and improvement of the UNIX derivative. In July 1987 Microsoft bought the company Forethought and integrated the software under the name Powerpoint into the own office applications. Since 1994 the slogan "Where Do You Want to Go Today?" was spread by advertizing. Originally Windows used a monolithic kernel but was later changed to the micro kernel. Comparable under the different Windows versions is the uniform program interface in Visual C with largely uniform usability. Windows profits from an enormously high number of free and shareware of other developers. The Windows and general software development is controlled by Microsoft and follows one defined roadmap, the product life cycle is limited and updates as well as support for one fix time period availably. The support is realized directly by Microsoft or certified partner companies. The successful enterprise has the primary objective to offer operating systems in the form of Windows for customers(end-user), professional and server area (enterprise). The business model of Microsoft offers the same platform for end-users and enterprises with standard implementations for software developer.

Network marketing, or multilevel marketing (MLM) is both an old and new business at the same time. The earliest form of MLM that is known began in the 1920s when some direct sales companies began paying their representatives a one-time finders fee when they brought new salesmen into the company. In 1945 Nutrilite Products Inc. became the first company to allow salesmen to draw permanent commissions from their recruits. The structure of MLM evolved as time and the economy marched on. Probably the most important thing to have happened to the structure of MLM is the commission system became multi-leveled (i.e. the name multilevel marketing.) Salesmen began getting commissions from the recruits that THEIR recruits recruited, and their recruits, and so on. The details differed from company to company, but the idea of earning a passive income from your sponsorship line took hold. [( FOOL'S GOLD )] As with any new concept or invention, there were people who conducted business honestly and fairly, and there were crooks. Some people sold get rich quick schemes and pie in the sky ideas, then took the money and ran. The pyramid scheme was born at this time... put in money, get two or more other people to put in money, have each of them get two or more people, and the money goes up to the top. Nasty business. It wouldn't be correct to say that people weren't playing by the rules, because the rules hadn't been invented yet. Just like the Old West, people made up the rules as they went along. And every once in a while a sheriff or marshal came around and set things straight. [( LAW, ORDER, AND LEGITIMACY )] 1979 was a very important year in network marketing. This was the year that the Federal Trade Commission, which had undertaken a long investigation of MLM determined that Amway, which was (and still is) the largest MLM company, was a legitimate business and not a pyramid scheme. At this point lots of companies began to spring up that distributed their products and services through the network marketing model. The industry began a growth cycle that continues to this day. [( MLM GOES MAINSTREAM )] Some of the companies that now occupy a huge market share in their particular product line either are done entirely through an MLM model or have divisions of their company that are MLM. Examples: Amway is a Fortune 500 company. MCI started as a network marketing company and maintains a division that distributes through MLM. Herb life is the largest health and nutrition company in the world...their entire product line is distributed through network marketing. Mary Kay and Avon are household names when it comes to skin care and cosmetics. Both are network marketing companies. Tupperware is a network marketing company. MLM got it's foot in the door, and it wasn't getting out! [( THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION )] Like every other facet of life, MLM was changed forever by the introduction of computers into everyday life. In the beginning stages of MLM, all the way into the 1990s, the business of MLM was conducted almost exclusively by telephone and in person. Network marketers would sell their products and sponsor people into the business by talking to people they personally came into contact with, placing newspaper ads, and placing magazine ads. Business spread through word of mouth. The introduction of computers and the Internet blew that model apart. Where people were once limited by geography and telephone expenses, they could now reach people throughout the world as easily as reaching those in the next town. People began building customer bases and organizations throughout the world.