Microsoft Quiz
Windows 95, Halo, Clippy's cousins and a $69 billion deal: 15 questions on the house that Gates built.
Which Microsoft operating system introduced the Start button and was launched with the Rolling Stones song Start Me Up?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Windows 95
Windows 95 arrived in shops on August 24, 1995 with the first Start menu and taskbar, and Microsoft licensed Start Me Up for the television campaign, reportedly paying about $3 million.
Fans queued at midnight to buy it, and Microsoft sold about seven million copies in the first five weeks.
Which Microsoft spreadsheet program made its debut in 1985?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Excel
Excel launched for the Macintosh in 1985 and reached Windows in 1987, eventually overtaking Lotus 1-2-3 to become the dominant spreadsheet and a core part of Office.
Excel's row limit jumped from 65,536 to 1,048,576 with the 2007 version, a figure power users still bump into.
Who succeeded Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's chief executive in 2014?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella took over as CEO on February 4, 2014, becoming only the third chief executive in Microsoft's history after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, and pivoted the company towards cloud computing.
Nadella had run the Azure cloud business, which became Microsoft's growth engine during his tenure.
Microsoft's headquarters campus is in which city in Washington state?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Redmond
Microsoft moved to its Redmond campus on February 16, 1986, a month before its stock market debut, and the site has grown into one of the largest corporate campuses in the United States.
Before Redmond the company spent seven years in Bellevue, having relocated from Albuquerque in 1979.
Which first-person shooter launched alongside the original Xbox in November 2001?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved was the Xbox's flagship launch title on November 15, 2001. Microsoft had bought its developer Bungie in 2000 and turned a planned PC game into a console system seller.
Halo's Master Chief became so central to the brand that Xbox's virtual assistant was later named after his AI companion.
Microsoft's digital assistant, launched in 2014, took its name from a character in which game series?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Halo
Cortana was named after the artificial intelligence that guides Master Chief in the Halo games, and Jen Taylor, the character's voice actress, recorded the assistant's American English voice.
Microsoft wound Cortana down from 2023 and ended support entirely in 2024 as it shifted to Copilot.
Which professional networking site did Microsoft buy in 2016 for about $26 billion?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Microsoft announced the all cash $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in June 2016 and completed it that December, making it the company's largest acquisition until the Activision Blizzard deal.
Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011 and GitHub for $7.5 billion in 2018, so all four options are Microsoft properties.
Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S consoles went on sale in November of which year?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
2020
Both consoles launched worldwide on November 10, 2020, two days before Sony's PlayStation 5, with the Series X as the flagship and the cheaper, disc free Series S alongside it.
The Series X was the first Xbox to launch with a fully digital sibling at a lower price.
Which version number did Microsoft skip when it followed Windows 8.1 with a new release in 2015?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Windows 9
Microsoft jumped straight to Windows 10 in July 2015. Executive Terry Myerson said the product was too different to be called Windows 9, and some developers suspect old software checking for Windows 9x also played a part.
Windows 10 was offered as a free upgrade for a year to users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.
In which city was Microsoft founded in 1975?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Albuquerque
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, because their first customer, the Altair maker MITS, was based there.
The company did not move to the Seattle area until 1979, settling first in Bellevue.
Which game publisher did Microsoft finish buying in October 2023 for about $69 billion?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Activision Blizzard
Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023 after nearly two years of regulatory scrutiny, the largest video game deal in history.
The deal brought Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush under the Xbox umbrella.
Which musician composed the six-second start-up sound for Windows 95?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Brian Eno
Microsoft asked ambient pioneer Brian Eno to compose a short, optimistic piece for Windows 95, and The Microsoft Sound became one of the most heard pieces of music of the decade.
Eno famously admitted he wrote the Windows sound on a Macintosh, and in 2025 the US Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.
The rolling green hills of Bliss, the default Windows XP wallpaper, were photographed in which US state?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
California
Charles O'Rear shot Bliss in January 1996 near the Napa and Sonoma county line in California, and Microsoft licensed it for Windows XP, making it possibly the most viewed photograph ever.
The hill was later replanted with vines, so the real location looks nothing like the famous wallpaper today.
Microsoft's first product was a BASIC interpreter for which early microcomputer?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Altair 8800
Gates and Allen wrote Altair BASIC in 1975 for the MITS Altair 8800, a kit computer featured on the cover of Popular Electronics, and it became Microsoft's first product.
Monte Davidoff, a Harvard classmate of Gates, wrote the floating point maths routines that the interpreter relied on.
From which company did Microsoft buy the operating system that became MS-DOS in 1981?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Seattle Computer Products
Microsoft bought 86-DOS, written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, for less than $100,000, then licensed it to IBM as PC DOS for the first IBM PC in 1981.
Digital Research's CP/M was IBM's original choice before talks broke down, handing Microsoft its big break.
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All Technology quizzes →About the Microsoft Quiz
Microsoft began in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, selling a BASIC interpreter for a hobbyist computer, and by 1995 it was paying the Rolling Stones to launch Windows 95. Along the way it bought the operating system that became MS-DOS for less than $100,000, hired Brian Eno to write a six-second start-up sound and skipped straight from Windows 8 to Windows 10.
These 15 questions cover Windows, Office, Xbox and the company's biggest acquisitions, with a few deeper cuts on Microsoft's early history. It suits anyone who grew up with a Start button, and the final questions should give even long-time PC users a run for their money.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What does the Microsoft Quiz cover?
Windows, Excel, Xbox and Halo, Cortana, the LinkedIn and Activision Blizzard deals, and Microsoft's early history with Altair BASIC and MS-DOS.
How difficult is the Microsoft Quiz?
Medium. The first questions on Windows 95 and Redmond are easy, while the Bliss wallpaper and the origin of MS-DOS are for real enthusiasts.
Do I get explanations for the answers?
Yes. Each answer comes with an instant explanation and a bonus fact, so you can learn the full story behind every question.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which Microsoft operating system introduced the Start button and was launched with the Rolling Stones song Start Me Up?
Windows 95 Windows 95 arrived in shops on August 24, 1995 with the first Start menu and taskbar, and Microsoft licensed Start Me Up for the television campaign, reportedly paying about $3 million. Fans queued at midnight to buy it, and Microsoft sold about seven million copies in the first five weeks. - Which Microsoft spreadsheet program made its debut in 1985?
Excel Excel launched for the Macintosh in 1985 and reached Windows in 1987, eventually overtaking Lotus 1-2-3 to become the dominant spreadsheet and a core part of Office. Excel's row limit jumped from 65,536 to 1,048,576 with the 2007 version, a figure power users still bump into. - Who succeeded Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's chief executive in 2014?
Satya Nadella Satya Nadella took over as CEO on February 4, 2014, becoming only the third chief executive in Microsoft's history after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, and pivoted the company towards cloud computing. Nadella had run the Azure cloud business, which became Microsoft's growth engine during his tenure. - Microsoft's headquarters campus is in which city in Washington state?
Redmond Microsoft moved to its Redmond campus on February 16, 1986, a month before its stock market debut, and the site has grown into one of the largest corporate campuses in the United States. Before Redmond the company spent seven years in Bellevue, having relocated from Albuquerque in 1979. - Which first-person shooter launched alongside the original Xbox in November 2001?
Halo: Combat Evolved Halo: Combat Evolved was the Xbox's flagship launch title on November 15, 2001. Microsoft had bought its developer Bungie in 2000 and turned a planned PC game into a console system seller. Halo's Master Chief became so central to the brand that Xbox's virtual assistant was later named after his AI companion. - Microsoft's digital assistant, launched in 2014, took its name from a character in which game series?
Halo Cortana was named after the artificial intelligence that guides Master Chief in the Halo games, and Jen Taylor, the character's voice actress, recorded the assistant's American English voice. Microsoft wound Cortana down from 2023 and ended support entirely in 2024 as it shifted to Copilot. - Which professional networking site did Microsoft buy in 2016 for about $26 billion?
LinkedIn Microsoft announced the all cash $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in June 2016 and completed it that December, making it the company's largest acquisition until the Activision Blizzard deal. Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011 and GitHub for $7.5 billion in 2018, so all four options are Microsoft properties. - Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S consoles went on sale in November of which year?
2020 Both consoles launched worldwide on November 10, 2020, two days before Sony's PlayStation 5, with the Series X as the flagship and the cheaper, disc free Series S alongside it. The Series X was the first Xbox to launch with a fully digital sibling at a lower price. - Which version number did Microsoft skip when it followed Windows 8.1 with a new release in 2015?
Windows 9 Microsoft jumped straight to Windows 10 in July 2015. Executive Terry Myerson said the product was too different to be called Windows 9, and some developers suspect old software checking for Windows 9x also played a part. Windows 10 was offered as a free upgrade for a year to users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. - In which city was Microsoft founded in 1975?
Albuquerque Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, because their first customer, the Altair maker MITS, was based there. The company did not move to the Seattle area until 1979, settling first in Bellevue. - Which game publisher did Microsoft finish buying in October 2023 for about $69 billion?
Activision Blizzard Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023 after nearly two years of regulatory scrutiny, the largest video game deal in history. The deal brought Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush under the Xbox umbrella. - Which musician composed the six-second start-up sound for Windows 95?
Brian Eno Microsoft asked ambient pioneer Brian Eno to compose a short, optimistic piece for Windows 95, and The Microsoft Sound became one of the most heard pieces of music of the decade. Eno famously admitted he wrote the Windows sound on a Macintosh, and in 2025 the US Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry. - The rolling green hills of Bliss, the default Windows XP wallpaper, were photographed in which US state?
California Charles O'Rear shot Bliss in January 1996 near the Napa and Sonoma county line in California, and Microsoft licensed it for Windows XP, making it possibly the most viewed photograph ever. The hill was later replanted with vines, so the real location looks nothing like the famous wallpaper today. - Microsoft's first product was a BASIC interpreter for which early microcomputer?
Altair 8800 Gates and Allen wrote Altair BASIC in 1975 for the MITS Altair 8800, a kit computer featured on the cover of Popular Electronics, and it became Microsoft's first product. Monte Davidoff, a Harvard classmate of Gates, wrote the floating point maths routines that the interpreter relied on. - From which company did Microsoft buy the operating system that became MS-DOS in 1981?
Seattle Computer Products Microsoft bought 86-DOS, written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, for less than $100,000, then licensed it to IBM as PC DOS for the first IBM PC in 1981. Digital Research's CP/M was IBM's original choice before talks broke down, handing Microsoft its big break.
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