Microsoft turns 40: A look back at a few of the company's highs and lows

Microsoft started 40 years ago today, April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico by co-founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates. They launched a business to sell the Altair BASIC interpreter that was used on the MITS Altair 8800 personal computer.

Needless to say, Microsoft has grown in the last 40 years from two people to over 100,000 employees working on tons of different products and services all over the world. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the company has changed the world as it was one of the major forces behind the entire personal computing era.

We decided to take a look back at the biggest highs and lows of Microsoft’s past four decades. It’s safe to say that the company has had huge successes, but also some embarrassing failures as well.