Дополнительный материал для чтения "Microsoft" (тема Mass Media, 8 класс)

MICROSOFT

It is strange to think that one of the richest and most powerful businesses in the world is only 25 years old.

Early in 1975 Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen, both undergraduates at Harvard University, ordered a “personal computer” called the “MITS Altair 600” from Popular Electronics magazine. When it arrived they had to assemble the different parts and try to make it work.

In less than one month, Bill and Paul had written their first computer language, BASIC, and sold it to the manufacturer MITS. One month later, Paul Allen was appointed the Director of Software at MITS.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed a partnership under the name Microsoft.

By July 1975, they had already developed version 2.0 of their BASIC software.

Two years later  Microsoft published its second computer language, which was called FORTRAN-80.

For the next few years, Microsoft produced further computer languages including COBOL and Pascal, but their big breakthrough (прорыв, рывок) came in 1981 with Microsoft MS-DOS. In 1983, we saw the first Microsoft word processing program, Microsoft Word. In the same year Microsoft announced Windows.

Even though the early version of Windows did not work very well, most computer users were happy with MS-DOS. By 1985, Microsoft was celebrating its tenth anniversary and annual sales of $140 million.

The following year, Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet package (пакет электронных таблиц) for Windows was published.

Over the following years, Microsoft continued to grow. By 1993 10 million people around the world were using Microsoft Word in its various versions.

Many people  have pointed out that Microsoft has never been a great innovator in softwares. Most of their best products have been developed from ideas created by others. The success of the company, they say, has been based on the public’s need to use common software.

I. Answer the questions.

1.  How old is Microsoft?

2.   Who are the founders of Microsoft?

3.   What languages did Bill Gates and Paul Allen invent?

4.   What was the most successful product of Microsoft?

5.  What did Microsoft celebrate in 1985?

6.   What do people say about Microsoft products?

II.   Insert the missing word or a phrase.

1.  One of the richest and most______ businesses in the world is only 25 years old.

2.   In 1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen were both undergraduates at_________University.

3.   Some months later they founded a______ under the name of Microsoft.

4.   Microsoft’s big________ came in 1981 with Microsoft MS-DOS.

5.      Windows_______ a graphical “point and click” operating environment.

6.   In 1983 Microsoft Word_ ___________ .

INTERNET crossword puzzle

You have 9 scrambled Internet words and their definitions.

Put them in a puzzle in the correct order. Find the key-word.

			1.
		2 .
	3.
		4.
	5.
			6 .
	7 .
8.
9.

1)       M D O E M - that is a special equipment used for connecting and passing the information through the telephone line.

2)       R I S V U - it is a dangerous, harmful programm which can destroy the computer or the whole web.

3)       R H A K E C - he is a computer wizard, is capable to get to the secret files or decode any password.

4)       R P O I V E D R - it is an organization or a company which gives you the service of connecting you computer to the Internet.

5)       O R P T L A - it is the starting page or a site which helps to get to the common group of sites.

6)       E I T S - it is logically ordered set of web-pages united by a common topic.

7)       N G I O L - it is the unique name, which is given to a user by the provider and used for the identification.

8)       N G S E F I R - it is a chaotical movement around the World Wide Web.

9)   H T C A - it is the way to talk in the Internet in the so-called "on-line conditions".