1999



Letter to shareholders.



Fellow shareholders

Microsoft continued to perform strongly in 1999.  Our customers count on us to provide great software that helps them communicate more effectively, work more productively, learn more creatively, and make the most of their leisure time.  We worked hard to meet those needs and to set the standard for features, functionality, simplicity, and seamless integration with the Internet in all of our products.  The result was remarkable growth and record revenue.

In the years ahead, we will see accelerating change in the software industry, as the computing needs of our customers start to move beyond the PC into a “PC-Plus” world.  The PC will undoubtedly remain at the heart of computing at home, work, and school, but it will be joined by numerous new intelligent devices and appliances, from handheld computers and auto PCs to Internet-enabled cellular phones.  More software will be delivered over the Internet, and the boundary between online services and software products will blur.  The Internet will continue to change everything by offering a level of connectivity that was unimaginable only a few years ago — and every home, business, and school will want to be hooked up to that incredible global database.

Microsoft’s vision is to empower people through great software — any time, any place, and on any device.  That means helping companies build friction-free knowledge-management systems, so information flows effortlessly through their businesses, and to implement flawless e-commerce operations.  It means helping developers create great Web-enabled products for a wide range of devices.  It means making PCs simpler and more reliable.  It means helping consumers transform the Internet into their own “personal Internet” — a resource that learns from them over time and empowers them with all of the information they need, while protecting their privacy.  Everything we do focuses on allowing people and organizations to create and manage their information.



Built around you

In a world of increasing technological complexity, one of our primary goals must be to make our products easier and more effective for customers to use.  In part, this entails developing simpler interfaces, natural-language processing, and voice control to help hide the underlying complexity from users.  We’re working hard to achieve those breakthroughs.  But it also means getting closer to our customers and working harder to understand their needs.  We must help customers integrate technology by learning about how they work, how information flows through their organization, what they’ll need in the future — and about where we’re succeeding or failing.  Customer-centric thinking must permeate everything we do.

Our growth is always forcing us to look at the best way to stay close to our customers and respond to their needs.  This year we organized the company so that its structure is customer-based rather than product-based.  The leaders of each of Microsoft’s newly defined divisions now have end-to-end management accountability in their respective customer segments.  Guided by the company’s overall vision, they have total