Prior to ending development last year, the company offered its Microsoft Reader software for about a decade -- first on handheld devices using Windows CE and Windows Mobile and later on desktop Windows.

ENGADGET: Switched On: Competing by hook or by Nook

When an instructor logs on to the Patient Editor software, the first thing he or she will see is a screen with a medical history template.

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Rather, in archetypal Microsoft fashion, it is first consolidating its grip on game development through its control of the underlying software, a series of low-level programs that go under the rubric of DirectX.

FORBES: Bill's sandbox

Google has had mapping software since 2005, and a Google Maps app was pre-installed on the first iPhone starting in 2007.

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For example, he has developed a first-of-its-kind ratings system for independent software coders, modeled on Major League Baseball statistics.

FORBES: Thinking Twice About "Creativity"

When first announced Silverlight was portrayed as a rival to Flash and key to getting Microsoft software running on many different devices.

BBC: Coders decry Silverlight change

Bagga, currently working for a software company in Southern California, published his first book in 2009, The Walk-On, and sold a few thousand copies.

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We focused on 28-year-old Linus Torvalds, a Finn who in 1991 wrote the first version of Linux, operating system software that has become the darling of hard-core computer users.

FORBES: Follow Through