Microsoft Company Trivia Quiz

Microsoft Company Trivia Quiz: Test your knowledge of the software giant with our collection of Microsoft quizzes featuring questions about Bill Gates, product history, Windows, Office, Xbox, and more!

Microsoft Company Trivia Quiz

Welcome to our Microsoft Company Trivia Quiz collection!

Put your knowledge of the world's largest software company to the test – we're covering everything from Bill Gates and Paul Allen's garage startup to modern Azure cloud services and artificial intelligence. All quizzes are totally free, no sign-up needed, and you can play as many times as you like!

Our Microsoft trivia dives deep, spanning from the company's 1975 founding all the way to the latest product launches. We've got questions on company history, product evolution, technological innovations, business strategies, and fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. Whether you've been a Microsoft user since the DOS era or just started using Windows, we've got quizzes that'll challenge and entertain you!

For each quiz, 20 questions will be randomly selected from the list below. Are you a true Microsoft Expert? Come on and test your knowledge!

1Who are the two main founders of Microsoft Corporation?

A

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

B

Bill Gates and Paul Allen

C

Larry Page and Sergey Brin

D

Jerry Yang and David Filo

Who are the two main founders of Microsoft Corporation? 28001

2In what year was Microsoft Corporation founded?

A

1972

B

1975

C

1980

D

1985

In what year was Microsoft Corporation founded? 28002

3What was the original name of Microsoft Corporation?

A

Microsoft Inc.

B

Micro-Soft

C

Gates & Allen Software

D

Traf-O-Data

What was the original name of Microsoft Corporation? 28003

4In which city was Microsoft Corporation originally founded?

A

Seattle

B

Albuquerque

C

Boston

D

Silicon Valley

In which city was Microsoft Corporation originally founded? 28004

5What was Microsoft's first commercial product?

A

MS-DOS operating system

B

Altair BASIC interpreter

C

Microsoft Word word processor

D

Windows 1.0 operating system

What was Microsoft's first commercial product? 28005

6Which famous operating system did Microsoft develop for the IBM PC?

A

CP/M

B

MS-DOS (or PC DOS)

C

Windows NT

D

OS/2

Which famous operating system did Microsoft develop for the IBM PC? 28006

7Which version of Windows was the first to achieve widespread commercial success with a graphical user interface?

A

Windows 1.0

B

Windows 3.0/3.1

C

Windows 95

D

Windows 2.0

Which version of Windows was the first to achieve widespread commercial success with a graphical user interface? 28007

8Which version of Windows introduced the iconic Start menu and taskbar?

A

Windows 3.1

B

Windows 95

C

Windows NT 4.0

D

Windows XP

Which version of Windows introduced the iconic Start menu and taskbar? 28008

9Which version of Windows was widely popular for its stability and long-term market dominance?

A

Windows Me

B

Windows XP

C

Windows Vista

D

Windows 8

Which version of Windows was widely popular for its stability and long-term market dominance? 28009

10What was the codename for Windows XP during its development?

A

Chicago

B

Whistler

C

Longhorn

D

Neptune

What was the codename for Windows XP during its development? 28010

11As of late 2023, what is Microsoft's latest flagship desktop operating system version?

A

Windows 7

B

Windows 11

C

Windows 10

D

Windows XP

As of late 2023, what is Microsoft's latest flagship desktop operating system version? 28011

12What operating system did Microsoft co-develop with IBM, intended to replace DOS?

A

Windows 95

B

OS/2

C

Xenix

D

Windows Me

What operating system did Microsoft co-develop with IBM, intended to replace DOS? 28012

13Which Microsoft operating system family primarily targets the server market?

A

Windows Home Edition

B

Windows NT / Windows Server

C

Windows Mobile

D

MS-DOS

Which Microsoft operating system family primarily targets the server market? 28013

14What is Microsoft's most famous office software suite?

A

Lotus SmartSuite

B

Microsoft Office

C

WordPerfect Office

D

OpenOffice

What is Microsoft's most famous office software suite? 28014

15What is the word processing software in the Microsoft Office suite?

A

Excel

B

Microsoft Word

C

PowerPoint

D

Access

What is the word processing software in the Microsoft Office suite? 28015

16What is the spreadsheet software in the Microsoft Office suite?

A

Word

B

Microsoft Excel

C

Outlook

D

OneNote

What is the spreadsheet software in the Microsoft Office suite? 28016

17What is the presentation software in the Microsoft Office suite?

A

Publisher

B

Microsoft PowerPoint

C

Access

D

FrontPage

What is the presentation software in the Microsoft Office suite? 28017

18What was Microsoft's first web browser?

A

Netscape Navigator

B

Internet Explorer

C

Mosaic

D

Microsoft Edge

What was Microsoft's first web browser? 28018

19What is Microsoft's current flagship web browser, succeeding Internet Explorer?

A

Firefox

B

Microsoft Edge

C

Chrome

D

Safari

What is Microsoft's current flagship web browser, succeeding Internet Explorer? 28019

20What is Microsoft's primary Integrated Development Environment (IDE) product?

A

Eclipse

B

Visual Studio

C

IntelliJ IDEA

D

NetBeans

What is Microsoft's primary Integrated Development Environment (IDE) product? 28020

21What is Microsoft's relational database server software?

A

MySQL

B

SQL Server

C

Oracle Database

D

PostgreSQL

What is Microsoft's relational database server software? 28021

22What is Microsoft's email and calendar server software?

A

Lotus Domino

B

Exchange Server

C

Gmail Server

D

Postfix

What is Microsoft's email and calendar server software? 28022

23What is Microsoft's subscription service, including Office apps and cloud storage, commonly called?

A

Azure Essentials

B

Microsoft 365

C

Office Online

D

Windows Plus

What is Microsoft's subscription service, including Office apps and cloud storage, commonly called? 28023

24What is Microsoft's video game console brand?

A

PlayStation

B

Xbox

C

Nintendo Switch

D

Sega Genesis

What is Microsoft's video game console brand? 28024

25In what year was the first-generation Xbox game console released?

A

1999

B

2001

C

2005

D

2000

In what year was the first-generation Xbox game console released? 28025

26What is Microsoft's hybrid tablet/laptop product line?

A

iPad

B

Surface

C

Chromebook

D

Galaxy Tab

What is Microsoft's hybrid tablet/laptop product line? 28026

27What was the brand name of Microsoft's former portable music player?

A

iPod

B

Zune

C

Walkman

D

Zen

What was the brand name of Microsoft's former portable music player? 28027

28Besides software and game consoles, what common computer peripherals does Microsoft also produce?

A

Printers and scanners

B

Mice and keyboards

C

Graphics cards and sound cards

D

Routers and modems

Besides software and game consoles, what common computer peripherals does Microsoft also produce? 28028

29What is the name of Microsoft's cloud computing platform?

A

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

B

Microsoft Azure

C

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

D

IBM Cloud

What is the name of Microsoft's cloud computing platform? 28029

30In cloud computing, IaaS is a service offered by Azure. What does it stand for?

A

Internet as a Service

B

Infrastructure as a Service

C

Interface as a Service

D

Information as a Service

In cloud computing, IaaS is a service offered by Azure. What does it stand for? 28030

31What is the popular collaboration platform under Microsoft, part of Microsoft 365?

A

Slack

B

Microsoft Teams

C

Zoom

D

Google Meet

What is the popular collaboration platform under Microsoft, part of Microsoft 365? 28031

32Who succeeded Bill Gates as CEO of Microsoft in 2000?

A

Paul Allen

B

Steve Ballmer

C

Satya Nadella

D

Eric Schmidt

Who succeeded Bill Gates as CEO of Microsoft in 2000? 28032

33As of late 2023, who is the current CEO of Microsoft?

A

Bill Gates

B

Satya Nadella

C

Steve Ballmer

D

Jeff Bezos

As of late 2023, who is the current CEO of Microsoft? 28033

34Besides technology, in which areas did Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen have significant investments and passions?

A

Film production and the restaurant industry

B

Professional sports teams, space exploration, and art collection

C

The fashion industry and real estate

D

Agriculture and renewable energy

Besides technology, in which areas did Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen have significant investments and passions? 28034

35During which decades did Microsoft face significant antitrust lawsuits in the United States and Europe?

A

1970s and 1980s

B

1990s and 2000s

C

2000s and 2010s

D

1980s and 1990s

During which decades did Microsoft face significant antitrust lawsuits in the United States and Europe? 28035

36What is Microsoft's ".NET" initiative?

A

A new hardware architecture

B

A software development framework and platform

C

An internet search engine

D

A cloud computing service

What is Microsoft's ".NET" initiative? 28036

37Microsoft's acquisition of which professional social networking site was one of its largest?

A

Facebook

B

LinkedIn

C

Twitter

D

MySpace

Microsoft's acquisition of which professional social networking site was one of its largest? 28037

38Which popular code hosting platform did Microsoft acquire?

A

Bitbucket

B

GitHub

C

GitLab

D

SourceForge

Which popular code hosting platform did Microsoft acquire? 28038

39Microsoft completed the acquisition of which major video game publisher in 2022/2023?

A

Electronic Arts (EA)

B

Activision Blizzard

C

Take-Two Interactive

D

Ubisoft

Microsoft completed the acquisition of which major video game publisher in 2022/2023? 28039

40Microsoft briefly owned the mobile phone business of which major phone manufacturer?

A

Samsung

B

Nokia

C

Motorola

D

LG

Microsoft briefly owned the mobile phone business of which major phone manufacturer? 28040

41What programming language interpreter did Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop for the Altair 8800?

A

FORTRAN

B

BASIC

C

COBOL

D

Pascal

What programming language interpreter did Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop for the Altair 8800? 28041

42Which early Microsoft spreadsheet program competed with Lotus 1-2-3?

A

VisiCalc

B

Multiplan (predecessor to Excel)

C

Quattro Pro

D

SuperCalc

Which early Microsoft spreadsheet program competed with Lotus 1-2-3? 28042

43Before Windows 3.0, what graphical user interface shell did Microsoft offer for MS-DOS?

A

GEM

B

Windows 1.0 or 2.0

C

DESQview

D

TopView

Before Windows 3.0, what graphical user interface shell did Microsoft offer for MS-DOS? 28043

44What is the name of Microsoft's search engine?

A

Yahoo Search

B

Bing

C

Ask Jeeves

D

DuckDuckGo

What is the name of Microsoft's search engine? 28044

45The Xbox game console marked Microsoft's entry into which market?

A

Personal computer market

B

Video game console market

C

Mobile phone market

D

Enterprise software market

The Xbox game console marked Microsoft's entry into which market? 28045

46What is the name of Microsoft's digital assistant, similar to Siri or Alexa?

A

Clippy

B

Cortana

C

Microsoft Assistant

D

Bob

What is the name of Microsoft's digital assistant, similar to Siri or Alexa? 28046

47Which version of Windows first included built-in support for TCP/IP networking?

A

Windows 3.1 for Workgroups

B

Windows 95

C

Windows NT 3.51

D

Windows 2000

Which version of Windows first included built-in support for TCP/IP networking? 28047

48In which city is Microsoft Corporation's headquarters located?

A

Mountain View, California

B

Redmond, Washington

C

Armonk, New York

D

Austin, Texas

In which city is Microsoft Corporation's headquarters located? 28048

49What was a key distinguishing feature of Windows NT compared to early consumer versions of Windows?

A

Richer gaming support

B

Higher stability, security, and a new kernel design

C

Lower hardware requirements

D

Built-in media player

What was a key distinguishing feature of Windows NT compared to early consumer versions of Windows? 28049

50In what year did Microsoft acquire Skype?

A

2008

B

2011

C

2014

D

2005

In what year did Microsoft acquire Skype? 28050

51What programming language, developed by Microsoft, is a superset of JavaScript?

A

C#

B

TypeScript

C

F#

D

Visual Basic .NET

What programming language, developed by Microsoft, is a superset of JavaScript? 28051

52Which Microsoft Office application is used for email and personal information management?

A

OneNote

B

Outlook

C

Access

D

Publisher

Which Microsoft Office application is used for email and personal information management? 28052

53What was Microsoft's first wearable technology product line focused on fitness?

A

Xbox Fit

B

Microsoft Band

C

Surface Watch

D

Zune Fitness

What was Microsoft's first wearable technology product line focused on fitness? 28053

54Bill Gates is also known for his philanthropic work through which foundation?

A

Gates Learning Foundation

B

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

C

Microsoft Philanthropy

D

Allen Family Foundation

Bill Gates is also known for his philanthropic work through which foundation? 28054

55What was the default font in many early versions of Microsoft Word and Windows?

A

Calibri

B

Times New Roman (common in Word) or Arial (common in Windows UI)

C

Comic Sans MS

D

Verdana

What was the default font in many early versions of Microsoft Word and Windows? 28055

56What is the name of Microsoft's game subscription service?

A

Xbox Live Gold

B

Xbox Game Pass

C

EA Play

D

PlayStation Plus

What is the name of Microsoft's game subscription service? 28056

57Which Microsoft operating system was codenamed "Longhorn" during development?

A

Windows XP

B

Windows Vista

C

Windows 7

D

Windows 8

Which Microsoft operating system was codenamed "Longhorn" during development? 28057

58Microsoft's HoloLens device is associated with what technology?

A

Virtual Reality (VR)

B

Mixed Reality (MR) / Augmented Reality (AR)

C

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

D

Cloud Computing

Microsoft's HoloLens device is associated with what technology? 28058

59What was Microsoft's primary business focus in its early days?

A

Hardware manufacturing

B

Software, particularly programming languages and operating systems

C

Internet services

D

Enterprise consulting

What was Microsoft's primary business focus in its early days? 28059

60Which Microsoft co-founder passed away in 2018?

A

Bill Gates

B

Paul Allen

C

Steve Ballmer

D

Charles Simonyi

Which Microsoft co-founder passed away in 2018? 28060