Microsoft logos through the ages

What do you do when you’re not only the world’s biggest company, but also the one of the most talked about? How do you stay in the game without overloading your customers’ senses?

For Microsoft founder and ex-CEO Bill Gates, the motto has always been somewhat cinematic: “If you devote yourself to an idea, if you become more than just the sum of all your parts, you become something else entirely…..a legend”. Of course, quoting Batman Begins just works to enhance the cinematic context.

But the caped crusader finds another parallel in Microsoft’s functioning; in people’s minds, the software giant finds instant recall on two things alone: the smiling face of Bill Gates and the simple, somehow charming logos.

To keep up with the times, and to expands its ever-widening reach, the company updated its logo yet again, only its seventh change in its nearly 40 years as a listed corporation.

Here’s a decco of Microsoft’s logos over the years, peppered with each logos’ personal history.

1. 1975–1979 (Duration: 4 years)

Bill Gates and Paul Allen’s (Microsoft co-founder) first design was a direct reflection of the hippie culture of the 70’s. Funky disco lights and a “groovy” typeset absorbed Microsoft into the mainstream, making it a company an evolving population could identify with.

Legend has it, Gates and Allen designed the logo themselves, using the then popular computing language, BASIC. The grapevine also says the two co-founders created it in less than a day.

2. 1980–1981

In early 1980, the company decided to ditch the hippie movement to associate itself with something even more current: hair metal mega-band, Metallica.

This logo was almost directly in sync with Metallica’s own symbol, down to the typography and the elongated sides of the individual letters. However, this symbol didn’t last too long and isn’t considered by many people to be an official change.

3. 1982–1986

Perhaps the most talked-about logo Microsoft ever unveiled, the fancy symbolisation of the “o” in the name even got itself a specific name: The Blibbet! While opinion is divided on what the “o” is supposed to mean (some call it Microsoft’s ‘third eye’, which enabled it to stay ahead of the competition), the Blibbet became popular, that when Microsoft decided to ditch the logo for something new, a former employee started a global campaign to “Save the Blibbet”. Pity it didn’t work.

This was the first time in the company’s history, so far, the the company ditched its famous endorsement of Italics.

4. 1987-Late 2000’s

This logo is perhaps Microsoft’s most ubiquitous one, the one any number of generations can pinpoint easily. That’s because it’s been the company’s mainstay in most advertorials and marketing campaigns, overshadowing its various sub-logos.

In fact, it was in use up until this year, even with the various little changes the company introduced in the middle.

Notice the soft hyphen between the “o” and the “s”. That was designer Scott Baker’s input, by which he wanted to convey the partition between “micro” and “soft” and also portray mobility and speed at the same time.

5. 1994–2002

The early 90’s saw the rise of slogans, when the advertising industry hit its first big boom. Microsoft, not to be left behind, matched steps with the giants with a slogan of its own.

In its case, though, it took the question to the customer, offering, at once, a solution to their problems as well as a thought-provoking insight into what the customer could do with its products.

“Where do you want to go today?” When the company launches the much-anticipated Windows 8, which industry insiders say will change the OS game yet again, the slogan could very well find its way back.

The hyphenated partition was now a company mainstay, and would remain so until August this year.

6. 2006–2012

In 2006, Microsoft scaled back the old design, while the Italics remained. However, the company wasn’t done with slogans just yet.

Updating to a simpler “Your Potential. Our Passion”, the software-maker decided to stick with it for six long years.

7. 2012-?
In August this year, Microsoft unveiled its new logo.

This time, the powers that be decided to associate with Microsoft’s most well-known product: the Windows operating system. Perhaps as a marketing tie-up for Windows 8, or maybe to propel forward the ideals that have worked for the company all these years, the new logo is a throwback to the Windows symbol.

Instead of the Windows’ wavy symbolisation (of blue, orange, green and yellow windows), the new logo is a big square comprising of four smaller squares. Experts call it Microsoft’s way of showcasing its company policy of precision and symmetry.