Does Microsoft Still Reign Supreme?

In the ever-growing world of technology, Microsoft remains a household name - but does it still reign supreme? Find out more in this guide.

Let’s quickly go back in time to 4 April 1975. On this iconic day, Bill Gates and Paul Allen officially founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the time, nobody knew (not even Bill Gates himself) that this was going to change the world forever. Almost fifty years on, Microsoft is a leading global vendor of computer software and hardware, gaming systems, cloud services, applications, and more.

Currently, the company sits with a market cap of $2.451 trillion—yes, trillion—and has a monopoly over original equipment manufacturers and PC customers. Whether you step inside a school classroom or a large business office, you can almost guarantee that at least one Microsoft product is being used in there.

Of course, having a monopoly doesn’t always equate to quality. Just because Microsoft is everywhere, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best, right? It’s a fair question. After all, you would expect that after decades of being at the top, perhaps Microsoft would start to take their eye off the ball and let standards slip at some stage.

The truth is this: Microsoft still reigns supreme in terms of both market control and product quality. Sure, Microsoft has had a few blips in its near fifty-year existence, but the company is well and truly one of the best (and most innovative) tech companies operating today.

Let’s take a closer look at why Microsoft remains one of the world’s best companies.

---

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure was first launched in 2010. In simple terms, Microsoft Azure is a cloud operating system targeted specifically towards businesses and developers.

Through Azure, you can access lots of different cloud services, from analytics to storage. As an end user, you have complete freedom to pick and choose which of these services you want to use.

The ultimate benefit of Azure is that you have an agile cloud computing platform that enables fast creation and management of different applications across Microsoft’s data centres.

If you want to get started with Microsoft Azure today, learn more about Microsoft software licensing so you can get the best possible deal for your company. 85% of Fortune 500 companies currently use Azure, so you’d be crazy not to join them!

---

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is used by 1.2 billion people (and counting) around the world. This cloud-powered productivity platform is the most famous and widely adopted Microsoft product of them all. No matter who you speak to, almost everyone knows what it is.

With most Microsoft 365 subscriptions you get:

• Microsoft Teams
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneDrive (and more)

As a business, it’s guaranteed that your employees need Microsoft 365 (or a specific Microsoft 365 program) in some shape or form. For example, your marketing team needs Word so it can create content and then post it online. If you have a sales team, they need PowerPoint so they can create presentations for their sales pitches—you get the idea.

Because Microsoft 365 is so powerful in terms of quality and market volume, it has no real competitors. Sure, there’s Google Workspace (which has Google Docs, Google’s answer to Word) but even Google Workspace can’t truly compete with Microsoft 365. When people need to create content or manage information, the first platform they turn to is Microsoft 365, and it’ll likely always be this way.

Despite having a complete monopoly over the market, Microsoft is still incredibly fair when it comes to pricing Microsoft 365, despite the fact that it could easily hike up the prices if it wanted to. Specifically, it has specific Microsoft 365 for Business subscription plans that you can purchase, no matter how many employees you have. In a nutshell, you pay on a per month, per user basis, so you’ll need to take into account how many employees you have before starting a subscription.

If you have the budget to do it, you should consider getting the Microsoft 365 Business Premium plan that comes with extra protection so you can keep your business fully secure from potential cyber threats. Also, don’t forget that you can cancel your Microsoft 365 plan at any time, so you don’t have to worry about being locked into expensive contracts.

---

Windows 11

Windows 11 is the latest operating system released by Microsoft. It first came out back in 2021 and has since been adopted by almost a quarter of the world’s population, making it one of the most successful Windows operating systems to date. With its fresh look, updated default app, and new accessibility features, it’s hardly surprising that Microsoft has taken its dominance to the next level.

---

Microsoft Edge

Although Google Chrome remains the most popular web browser as of 2023, Microsoft Edge is still up there (currently sitting in third place on the list). It’s one of Microsoft’s most successful products and comes with ultra-fast browsing speeds, making it perfect for both casual users and professionals.

---

Xbox Consoles

If you have any experience in the gaming world, you’ll know all about the Xbox. The original Xbox was released by Microsoft back in 2001. Flashforward to the present day and the Xbox brand continues to dominate the market, highlighted by the Xbox Series X and Series S (both of which were released in 2021).

Moving into the future, it’s expected that Microsoft will continue to keep a strong foothold in the gaming market as it continues its long battle with PlayStation.

---

Microsoft Surface PCs, Laptops, Tablets, and Whiteboards

Microsoft Surface is an exciting series of touchscreen PCs, laptops, tablets, and interactive whiteboards released by Microsoft. As you’d expect, the majority of these products all run on the Windows operating system and are extremely impressive in terms of both quality and pricing (which is why the Surface pulled in $6.7 billion of the Microsoft’s $198 billion revenue in 2022).

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a student, teacher, salesperson, marketing executive, or entrepreneur— you can benefit from a Microsoft Surface product.

---

Summary: Microsoft Remains on Top

Microsoft is one of the most iconic brands of all time. Despite competition from Apple, Google, and other big tech companies, there’s no doubt that Microsoft will be around for hundreds of years to come and will likely never lose its market position.

Whichever industry you operate in, keep tabs on the latest products and operating systems that are released by Microsoft so you can benefit from them, too.

---

---

Article by Pankaj Shah: DCP Website Design