14 DAY TRIAL // 2012 has undoubtedly been a critical year for the Redmond-based technology giant Microsoft, as the company has released a brand new version of Windows as well as several fresh products supposed to help it get closer to a devices and services concept, as CEO Steve Ballmer likes to say.
Microsoft has also adopted a new logo, but it all started with February, when the company officially rolled out Kinect for Windows. SQL Server 2012 saw daylight in April, while May brought us a major refresh for the in-house search engine Bing.
Surface, Microsoft’s first tablet in history, was unveiled in June, while the public launch took place on October 25, the same day when the company officially took the wraps off Windows 8.
The update Office productivity suite was presented for the first time in July, while in September Microsoft unveiled Windows Server 2012 and launched the YouthSpark initiative to help 300 million youth worldwide.
Finally, October was probably the most important month of the year, as Microsoft rolled out Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, both described as two revolutionary products supposed to “reinvent” the way you work on your computer.
Microsoft has even prepared a $1.8 billion (€1.3 billion) marketing budget to make sure that these two enjoy a terrific success and, leaving rumors and analysts’ comments aside, we can’t help but admit that Microsoft has done a pretty good job when it comes to its advertising efforts.
The company is slowly migrating towards a devices and services firm and aside from the Surface tablet, it’s also planning to release some new devices as soon as 2013. The Surface with Windows 8 Pro will come out in January, while other Surface-branded products are expected in the next few months.
In addition, the company has revamped Outlook.com, Xbox Music and SkyDrive, three major services that have stirred up a lot of interest in the last couple of months.
With all these being said, here’s an official video released by Microsoft to see the most important moments of 2012.
