Fact or Fiction: Microsoft

Estimated Completion Time
1 min
Fact or Fiction: Microsoft
Image: Steve Kagan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

About This Quiz

Founder (and ultimate computer geek) Bill Gates has become, depending on whom you believe, an embodiment of the American Dream -- or a cautionary tale of corrupting power. How much do you really know about Microsoft?
Bill Gates and his father founded Microsoft in 1975.
fact
fiction
almost fact: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded the company in '75.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gates and Allen met as teenagers and founded Microsoft in 1975.

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Microsoft's logo is "Real solutions for real people."
fact
fiction
almost fact: It's "Computers for the next generation."
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It's actually \"Your potential. Our passion.\"

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About 12,000 Microsoft employees have become billionaires.
fact
fiction
almost fact: It's millionaires, not billionaires.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Since the company's IPO in 1986, Microsoft has made about 12,000 new millionaires.

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Microsoft Office made its debut in 1989.
fact
fiction
almost fact: It was 1986.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

True. In 1989 we were all introduced to the now ubiquitous Word and Excel programs.

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In 2000, a judge ruled that Microsoft was an "abusive monopoly."
fact
fiction
almost fact: The judge actually said that Microsoft was a "benevolent monopoly."
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In the case of United States v. Microsoft, the judge did make that ruling -- and also ordered the company to split in two.

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Microsoft made $600 billion in 2008.
fact
fiction
almost fact: The company made $600 million.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The earnings are still pretty darn high, but was more like $60 billion.

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Steve Ballmer succeeded Bill Gates as Microsoft CEO in 1998.
fact
fiction
almost fact: Steve Ballmer became CEO in 2000.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Well, it is almost fact -- Ballmer did become the CEO, but it was in 2000.

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In 2001, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox, its first foray into the video-game market.
fact
fiction
almost fact: Microsoft's video-game system is the PlayStation.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

True, and the Xbox 360 came along in 2005.

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Bill Gates retired from Microsoft in 2008 in order to fulfill his lifelong dream of traveling the world.
fact
fiction
almost fact: He stepped down to focus on philanthropical activities.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gates passed the torch in July 2008 so he could devote more time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Bill Gates wanted to build a computer called the "Frackintosh" in 1985, but he was voted down in a heated company meeting.
fact
fiction
almost fact: The proposed computer was called the "Zakintosh."
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Yeah, totally untrue. We were just testing you.

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You Got:
/10
Steve Kagan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images