Microsoft
In 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office. The suite bundled separate productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. On May 22, Microsoft launched Windows 3.0, featuring streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor. Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective areas.
Microsoft Office 2000
Microsoft released five main editions of Office 2000 globally: Standard, Small Business, Professional, Premium, and Developer.An additional Personal edition exclusive to Japan was also released. All retail editions sold in Australia, Brazil, China, France, and New Zealand, as well as academic copies sold in Canada and the United States, required the user to activate the product via the Internet. Microsoft extended this requirement to retail editions sold in Canada and the United States with the availability of Office 2000 Service Release 1. However, product activation is no longer required as of April 15, 2003. Product activation would become a requirement for all editions of Office from Office XP onward.