English
Alternative forms
MicroSoft? italbrac|obsolete
Micro-Soft italbrac|obsolete
Micro$oft italbrac|pejorative
Etymology
Blend of term|microcomputer and term|software
Proper noun
wikipedia
en-proper noun
- The computer company that has primarily developed software for its Windows operating system, and which iconicizes co-founder and product strategist w:Bill Gates|Bill Gates.
#*2001 April, Matt Groening, �Insane in the Mainframe�, Futurama, season 3, episode 12, opening title
#*:Bender�s Humor by
#*:Microsoft Joke
Noun
en-noun
- figurative a company whose products are ubiquitous
#* 2001, Daniel Charles, Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food (ISBN 0738202916), page 110:
#*: Similarly, said Fraley, farmers were going to demand Bt cotton or Roundup-resistant soybean plants no matter where they went shopping for seeds. Monsanto would be the Microsoft of agriculture.
#* 2005, Merrill Goozner, The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs (ISBN 0520246705), page 64:
#*: The company wanted to turn Celera into the Microsoft of the gene-hunting world, selling its version of the human genome to private or public gene hunters through a proprietary computer program.
#* 2006, Andrew Beaujon, Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock (ISBN 0306814579), page 232:
#*: Shepherding is more or less gone (though there�s an interesting move back toward discipleship in today�s church especially among those influenced by Rick Warren�s blockbuster book The Purpose-Driven Life), but Integrity remains as sort of the Microsoft of worship music.
Verb
en-verb
- context|transitive|slang to Microsoftify.
Category:Portmanteaus|microsoft
de:Microsoft
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