• Microsoft

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /maɪk.ɹə.sÉ’ft/
    • US

    Alternative forms

    • MicroSoft, Micro-Soft former names of the company
    • Micro$oft pejorative

    Origin

    From Microsoft, the computing company; a microcomputersoftware

    Full definition of Microsoft

    Noun

    Microsoft

    (plural Microsofts)
    1. (figuratively) a company whose products are widespread.
      • 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

    1. (transitive, slang) to Microsoftify.
    2. (transitive, slang) to make more like Microsoft with regards to perceived business practices and tactics.
      • 2003, Wine Enthusiast (volume 16, issues 2-8‎, page 122)You could call it the Microsofting of the wine industry. Of course, wine is unlikely to be dominated by one producer or one distributor.

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