SAN
FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft's corporate logo has a new look, setting the
stage for a wave of products designed to cast the world's largest
software maker in a new light.
The makeover unveiled Thursday marks the first time that Microsoft Corp. has revamped its logo since February 1987. The Internet was barely around then, and cellphones were considered a luxury.
At the time, Microsoft was putting the finishing touches on the second version of its Windows operating system. Two of Microsoft's biggest nemeses — Google Inc. co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — were just 13 years old. And Apple Inc.
co-founder Steve Jobs was just in the second year of an 11-year exile
from the company that went on to invent the iPod, iPhone and iPad after
he returned.
By revamping its logo, Microsoft is trying to signal
that it has changed its thinking and its products to cater to people who
are interacting with technology much differently than just a decade
ago, let alone a quarter century.
Now,
more computing tasks are being done on touch-based devices such as
smartphones and tablets instead of personal computers tethered to
keyboards and mice. Many software applications are now supplied over high-speed Internet connections for a monthly fee instead of being installed on individual computers.
Microsoft
believes a radical change to Windows will ensure that the company
survives the technological upheaval. Windows 8, due to hit the market
Oct. 26, displays software applications in a mosaic of tiles and has
been engineered so it works on both touch-based tablets and traditional
PCs. The company also is releasing its own Windows 8-powered tablet to
compete against the iPad, accompanied by a new version of Office
applications tailored for such devices. There also will be a Windows 8
operating system for smartphones.The new logo ushers in "one of the most significant waves of product launches in Microsoft's history," Jeff Hansen, the company's general manager of brand strategy, wrote in a blog post Thursday.
The
redesign features the Microsoft name in a lighter, straight font called
Segoe to replace the italic bold type used in the old standby. The new
logo also includes the familiar red, blue, yellow and green colors used
in the flag on Microsoft's Windows operating system, but the colors will
be in a square box instead of the curvy template that has been in place
for years. Those color boxes evoke the tiles that will be central to
Windows 8.
"The ways people experience our products are our most important 'brand impressions,'" Hansen wrote. "That's why the new Microsoft logo
takes its inspiration from our product design principles while drawing
upon the heritage of our brand values, fonts and colors."
The
new logo made its debut Thursday on Microsoft's websites, as well as
three of its stores in Boston, Bellevue, Wash. and Seattle, which is
located near the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
This
is Microsoft's fifth logo since Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded the
company 37 years ago. When it last changed its logo in 1987, Microsoft
had been a publicly traded company for less than a year and boasted a
market value of about $2 billion. It peaked at more than $600 million in
1999. Now, Microsoft's market value stands at $254 billion — less than
half of Apple's market value of $623 billion.
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Online:
http://bit.ly/PIR90G
