ain but not in the United States. Shortly thereafter,
they announced the group’s dissolution. Michael,
ready to pursue a solo career, again altered his style
and image before releasingFaithat the end of 1987.
First, however, he recorded the single “I Want Your
Sex” for the 1987 filmBeverly Hills Cop II. Although
the controversial song was banned by many radio sta-
tions, it became a hit. Michael also recorded a duet
with Aretha Franklin, “I Knew You Were Waiting
for Me,” which garnered a Grammy Award in the
rhythm and blues category.
With all of the hype surrounding these singles,
Faithhad much to live up to, and it did not disap-
point. The title song’s video introduced Michael’s
sexy new image, complete with leather jacket and fa-
cial stubble, while “Father Figure,” a slow, sultry tune
about forbidden love, was also a hit.Faithwon the
Grammy for Album of the Year, but Michael’s result-
ing success and exhausting schedule took its toll,
and his subsequent albums did not reach the same
heights. In later years, Michael would renounce his
image as a sex symbol, due in part to his burgeoning
homosexuality as well as the loss of a loved partner.
Impact Often described as an autobiographical singer-
songwriter, George Michael struck a chord with au-
diences around the world at various stages in his life
and career, including the frothy tunes from his
Wham! days and the more soulful songs he later re-
corded as a solo artist. His talent attracted the atten-
tion of influential artists such as Aretha Franklin and
Elton John, leading to hugely successful collabora-
tive projects, and Michael also used his fame to high-
light worthy causes such as famine relief and AIDS
awareness.
Further Reading
Gold, Todd.George Michael. New York: Paperjacks,
1987.
Pond, S. “George Michael, Seriously.”Rolling Stone,
January 28, 1988, 28.
Wapshott, Nicholas, and Tim Wapshott.Older: The
Unauthorized Biography of George Michael. London:
Sidgwick & Jackson, 1998.
Amy Sisson
See also MTV; Music; Music videos; Pop music.
Microsoft
Identification American software company
Date Founded in 1976; incorporated under the
name Microsoft in 1981
In 1988, Microsoft passed Lotus to become the largest soft-
ware company in the world. It achieved its phenomenal
growth during the 1980’s by using a business model that
revolutionized the computer industr y. The company entered
into advantageous strategic partnerships, bought smaller
companies whose intellectual property was necessar y to
complete major Microsoft products, and hired the best em-
ployees available to develop software that customers wanted.
In 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bill Gates and
Paul Allen developed a BASIC interpreter for the
MITS ALTAIR microcomputer. Later in the 1970’s,
they founded Micro-Soft to produce BASIC inter-
preters for a number of microcomputers. Steve
Ballmer joined the team in 1980; a canny executive
whose business acumen was important to Micro-
soft’s success, he would succeed Bill Gates as presi-
dent in 1988. The company founders changed the
name of their venture to Microsoft in 1981 and
moved it to Seattle, Washington.
Gates and Allen decided to expand beyond con-
centrating solely on computer languages. They
purchased the Quick and Dirty Operating System
(QDOS), developed in 1980 by Tim Peterson. Micro-
soft added some features to QDOS and renamed
the resulting operating system MS-DOS. In 1981,
Microsoft licensed a version of its DOS operating sys-
tem, PC-DOS, as well as a BASIC interpreter, to Inter-
national Business Machines (IBM). PC-DOS became
the operating system of the IBM PC. The success of
the IBM PC platform resulted in many clones being
developed by other companies. Microsoft provided
MS-DOS for over fifty of these clones by 1982. The to-
tal sales of MS-DOS, added to the large PC-DOS sales,
launched Microsoft on the road to becoming the larg-
est software company in the world.
Microsoft was interested in marketing a more ad-
vanced operating system than MS-DOS, so the com-
pany ported to microcomputers a version of UNIX,
developed by American Telephone and Telegraph
(AT&T). During the early 1980’s, Microsoft licensed
this operating system—XENIX—to IBM, Intel, and
SCO. Rather than making XENIX its operating sys-
tem of the future, however, Microsoft opted during
the remainder of the 1980’s to develop several other642 Microsoft The Eighties in America