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Microsoft Home
Microsoft Home was a line of software applications and personal hardware products published by Microsoft. Microsoft Home software titles first appeared in the middle of 1993. These applications were designed to bring multimedia to Microsoft Windows and Macintosh personal computers. With more than 60 products available under the Microsoft Home brand by 1994, the company's push into the consumer market took off. Microsoft Plus!, an add-on enhancement package for Windows, continued until the Windows XP era. The range of home software catered for many different consumer interests from gaming with Microsoft Arcade and Entertainment Packs to reference titles such as Microsoft Encarta, Bookshelf and Cinemania. Shortly after the release of Microsoft Windows 95, the company began to reduce the price of Microsoft Home products and by the rise of the World Wide Web by 1998, Microsoft began to phase out the line of software. Titles Microsoft Home produced software for all different home us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washington, United States. Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers. Microsoft ranked No. 21 in the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue; it was the world's largest software maker by revenue as of 2019. It is one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both computer data and audio with the latter capable of being played on a CD player, while data (such as software or digital video) is only usable on a computer (such as ISO 9660 format PC CD-ROMs). During the 1990s and early 2000s, CD-ROMs were popularly used to distribute software and data for computers and fifth generation video game consoles. DVD started to replace it in these roles starting in the early 2000s. History The earliest theoretical work on optical disc storage was done by independent researchers in the United States including David Paul Gregg (1958) and James Russel (1965–1975). In particular, Gregg's patents were used as the basis of the LaserDisc specification that was co-developed between MCA and Philips after MCA purchased ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Game Programming
Game programming, a subset of game development, is the software development of video games. Game programming requires substantial skill in software engineering and computer programming in a given language, as well as specialization in one or more of the following areas: simulation, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, physics, audio programming, and input. For multiplayer games, knowledge of network programming is required (the resultant code, in addition to its performance characteristics, is commonly referred to as the game's netcode by players and programmers alike). In some genres, e.g. fighting games, advanced network programming is often demanded, as the netcode and its properties (e.g. latency) are considered by players and critics to be some of the most important metrics of the game's quality. For massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), even further knowledge of database programming and advanced networking programming are required. Though often engaged in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Games
A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-determined gaming hardware and software; and generally greater capacity in input, processing, video and audio output. The uncoordinated nature of the PC game market, and now its lack of physical media, make precisely assessing its size difficult. In 2018, the global PC games market was valued at about $27.7 billion. Home computer games became popular following the video game crash of 1983, leading to the era of the "bedroom coder". In the 1990s, PC games lost mass-market traction to console games, before enjoying a resurgence in the mid-2000s through digital distribution on services such as Steam and GOG.com. Newzoo reports that the ''PC gaming sector'' is the third-largest category (and estimated in decline) across all platforms , with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct", such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name ''DirectX'' was coined as a shorthand term for all of these APIs (the ''X'' standing in for the particular API names) and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the ''X'' was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on DirectX technology. The ''X'' initial has been carried forward in the naming of APIs designed for the Xbox such as XInput and the Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT), while the DirectX pattern has been continued for Windows APIs such as Direct2D and DirectWrite. Direct3D (the 3D graphics API within DirectX) is widely used in the develop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windows 3
Windows 3.x means either of, or all of the following versions of Microsoft Windows: * Windows 3.0 * Windows 3.1x Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows 3 ... Windows NT * Windows NT 3.x 3.x {{Short pages monitor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS" (which is also the generic acronym for disk operating system). MS-DOS was the main operating system for IBM PC compatibles during the 1980s, from which point it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering a graphical user interface (GUI), in various generations of the graphical Microsoft Windows operating system. IBM licensed and re-released it in 1981 as PC DOS 1.0 for use in its PCs. Although MS-DOS and PC DOS were initially developed in parallel by Microsoft and IBM, the two products diverged after twelve years, in 1993, with recognizable differences in compatibility, syntax, and capabilities. Beginning in 1988 with DR-DO ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Art Gallery
''Microsoft Art Gallery'' is a 1993 educational and interactive guide for the London National Gallery published by Microsoft. Production The software was originally developed by Cognitive Applications in the UK in 1991 as a multimedia learning tool for use in Britain's National Gallery. Originally called "Micro Gallery", Microsoft released a digitised version entitled ''Microsoft Art Gallery''. The software went on sale in Britain in October 1993, and was released in Australia later that year. Content The title allows players to explore various works of art in an interactive and multimedia way. It features the work of the national Gallery of London. The title contains schema links, allowing the player to explore related content in a seamless way. Critical reception PC Mag thought the software was "stylishly designed and carefully presented", further praising its elegant and easily navigable interface. When comparing art titles, The New York Times felt the title would appeal to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Dangerous Creatures
Microsoft Dangerous Creatures is a discontinued educational programme by Microsoft Home. It was designed for Windows 3.1 and first published in August 1994. It was included in the "Microsoft Home bundle pack" along with 'Encarta', 'Works Multimedia', Money and 'Arcade & Best of Windows Entertainment Pack'. Gameplay ''Dangerous Creatures'' allowed the user to investigate animals according to several categories: Atlas (animals by country), Weapons (animals that had teeth, venom, or claws), Guides (related animals), Habitats (animals from a given environment), and Index (an alphabetical list of all animals covered). Animal articles had pictures, descriptions, and video clips. In addition a user could be tested with quizzes on the animals. Narration and video Most pictures were taken from websites and books (e.g. Dorling Kindersley). Narration was done by three different people. The main narrator is Robert Zink, who also does the guide 'Fergus', and the other two guides are done b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Dinosaurs
''Microsoft Dinosaurs'' is an educational interactive CD-Rom developed by Microsoft, themed around dinosaurs. Production Microsoft invested in access to the entire library of writing and images of reference publishing house Dorling Kindersley. They used it to create content for the Microsoft Home software line, including ''Microsoft Dinosaurs''. Gameplay The game contains 400MB of dinosaur-related information, including full-motion video, audio, and a gallery of scanned artwork. The main program features 1000 illustrations, 200 hypertext articles, and 800 pop-up windows. Players can explore the content in four different ways: Atlas, Timeline, Families, and Index. There is also a guided tour, hosted by "Dino" Don Lessem. The game contains sequences featuring dinosaurs feeding, fighting and breeding, which had previously been broadcast in an American television series put out by the Public Broadcasting Service, and the Phil Tippett short ''Prehistoric Beast''. Critical receptio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Ancient Lands
''Microsoft Ancient Lands'' is a 1994 "infotainment" multimedia software title, part of the Microsoft Home series, covering the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It featured 21 animations and video sequences and 5 hours of video, and allowed users to learn about aspects of life like cooking and working. In 1995, a computer lab was available at Andover Elementary School with Microsoft products including Ancient Lands. ''The Chicago Times'' felt the title would appeal to teachers and parents who wanted children to be interested in history and culture. ''The Washington Post'' thought it is easy to be wrapped up in the title's wealth of information. ''PC Mag ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...'' wrote the title could inspire children to visit a museum. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Music Central
Microsoft Music Central is a discontinued music encyclopedia on CD-ROM produced by Microsoft, similar to their Cinemania product and part of the Microsoft Home range. The corpus includes a selection of biographical articles from the Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music a spin-off of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music written by Colin Larkin, album reviews from '' Q'' Magazinand image, still images and full-motion video clips. For a time, Microsoft made available monthly updates for those with Internet access. The encyclopedia also allows browsing by artist, album, and genre, searching for particular keywords, and viewing portraits, album covers, song clips and video clips in the gallery. Music Central includes informational 'tours' led by the recorded voice of an artist (or an imitation of their voice, in the case of Little Richard) on their own musical genre. The tour directs the user to particular articles and media. References * he title of this piece was corrected in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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