Microsoft
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /maɪk.ɹə.sɒft/
- 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)- (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
- (transitive, slang) to Microsoftify.
- (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.