Which came first, Google or Microsoft?
Microsoft came first, by 23 years. Gates and Allen founded Micro-Soft in Albuquerque.
Side by side
| Microsoft | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1998 | 1975 |
| Date | 1998-09-04 | 1975-04-04 |
| Category | technology | company |
| What happened | Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park. | Gates and Allen founded Micro-Soft in Albuquerque. |
The date used here is the incorporation, 4 September 1998. Two others compete: the research project called BackRub began at Stanford in 1996, and the google.com domain was registered on 15 September 1997. Google itself has celebrated its birthday on four different September dates over the years, which is a fair indication that no single one is correct. It is younger than Amazon, eBay and Netflix.
Microsoft
Microsoft was founded in April 1975 to sell a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 — a product they had demonstrated before writing all of it. It predates Apple by almost exactly one year. The hyphen was dropped in 1976 and the company moved to Washington state in 1979.
Common questions
- Which came first, Google or Microsoft?
- Microsoft, by 23 years — 1975 against 1998.
- When did Google start?
- 1998. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.
- When did Microsoft start?
- 1975. Gates and Allen founded Micro-Soft in Albuquerque.
Related pages
- the Ford Motor Company or Microsoft? the Ford Motor Company
- Coca-Cola or Microsoft? Coca-Cola
- LEGO or Microsoft? LEGO
- McDonald's or Microsoft? McDonald's
- Microsoft or Nintendo? Nintendo
- Microsoft or Samsung? Samsung
- Microsoft or Windows? Microsoft
- Microsoft or the World Wide Web? Microsoft
- Microsoft or Python? Microsoft
- Microsoft or Netflix? Microsoft
- Microsoft or Star Wars? Microsoft
- Microsoft or Mario? Microsoft
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)