History of Valve Software Essay

"William Higinbotham, who in 1958 created a game called Tennis for Two…" (The Beginning), is the one credited for the invention of the video game. At this stage in time, this new innovation did not spark much interest with the public. "Computer and video games themselves did not become part of the

Activision Pre-merger: Activision was a leading developer and publisher of video game software for consoles. Its top titles include Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, and Call of Duty, all of which have multiple games in their series. The company itself was moderately vertically integrated, with ownership of some development, publishing, and distribution activities. Its strengths lie in its growth strategies; partnerships allowed the firm to exclusive rights to certain brands. Other strengths include leading game titles for multiple platforms, hit sequels that are less capital intensive to develop, a stringent “green light” process for quality control, ability for online game play, and divisions in over a dozen countries. Weaknesses include lack of existence in foreign markets, lack of PC software development techniques, and the fact that licensed content is vulnerable to competition. The opportunities available are sequels to already established titles, growth in industry, and future partnerships based on their good reputation with previous alliances. Threats include competition from other software developers like THQ and Take-Two, the cyclical nature of releases, and the reliance on game consoles for use of software.

Although, seeing as video games are increasingly popular today, not everyone met as unfortunate of a fate. Today, many could credit this to the video game development corporation known as Atari, which arose in 1972 and continuously flourished until about 1982. In 1972, Atari came out with PONG, the first electronic arcade game, and it was an enormous accomplishment that exploded into what is now called the electronic gaming revolution. As time passed, Atari managed to triumph over its competition time and time again, but that is not to say that each of the failed corporations did not feature something that is used today. In fact, a couple of the failed organizations contributed something original to what is common today. For instance, Fairchild Camera and Instrument creating the first system that could play several different games, rather than just one. Another aforementioned group, RCA, was the first to produce and utilize keypad controllers instead of paddles or joysticks. Other consoles that came along, such as Intellivision and Vectrex, sported better graphics than the Atari’s consoles and games, but they still did not manage to gross the amount of money that Atari did because Atari was still on top of collecting all of the most entertaining and enjoyable games of their time. Keep in mind what attracted the masses to video games in the past: fun and addictive gameplay, not how good they looked. Now that the principal eras of gaming have been

Linux was originally developed as a hobby project by LINUX Torvalds. It was inspired by minx, a small UNIX system developed by

Throughout the 1980’s, it became the pre-eminent operating systems of personal computers, until another operating system, DR-DOS, was released by a company called Digital Research. Critics claim that this operating system never had a chance at gaining a fair share of the market because Microsoft deliberately slowed DR-DOS’s sales by announcing a better version of MS-DOS was on its way (Newman).

Beginning with the history of Linux, in 1984, Richard Stallman, a programmer that was working for the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, left his position with a vision of software

When the first developed was Macintosh, Jobs to visit near Seattle gates office. Microsoft wrote some applications for Apple II , including one called Multiplan spreadsheet program, jobs want to stimulate gates and his company, for the upcoming Macintosh computer do more. Sitting in the Gates meeting rooms, jobs for public computer made a tempting perspective, friendly interface, this show is in a California factory automation has millions of production. He in the California suction silicon components and cultivate complete dream factory lead to Microsoft team Macintosh computer program code "sand". They even put engineering reverse to a acronym, "Steve 's amazing new devices." But in the end they twin and no successful cooperation.

The 1990’s was a decade filled with technological advancements. Now about 100 Million computers were being used. The demand for high quality technology was on a high and companies were making their products affordable. Video Game Consoles and even portable hand held devices where being used, but computers were still the product everybody wanted. Apple and Microsoft were on the rise both during this time reaching a net worth of 1 Billion$. New companies were also being founded such as Asus and Alienware who were marketed towards the gaming crowd, these companies produced and still produce very high level computers that can run just about anything out there. Around this time is when gaming on pc was starting to get big. Half Life a game made

Ubisoft was created in 1986 by five brothers Claude, Michel, Yves, Gérard and Christian Guillermots. Ubisoft is a publisher and distributor of educational software and video games and is the second largest force in video game creation worldwide. Ubisoft has distribution subsidiaries present in 21 countries and ensure the distribution of products in more than 50.

The PCs became a commodity. Microsoft grew to be the leader in the operating system market continuing to develop their Windows GUI line. With Windows, software standards have been established allowing software developers to certify their products to meet Windows requirements and deliver controlled performance. In addition, the PCs allowed numerous hardware manufacturers to

In 1975, Steve Jobs teamed up with Steve Wozniak to create the first Apple Computer, launching a technological revolution creating need for all types of computer technology. However, the most important type of computer tech is software; software allows for the user interface, operating system, applications, and gives the computer the ability to function. In 1998, when Varchasivi Shankar created the company, V2SOFT, he set out to create software for computers everywhere. Surrounded by a family of business, Mr. Shankar grew up in India. Growing up, he watched his grandfather control and grow his business and knew that’s what he wanted to do as well. He decided that it would be smarter to have a business in America and his journey began when he traveled to the United States. Varchasivi Shankar is heroic because he has completed the three steps in the hero’s journey: the departure, the initiation, and the return.

By the late 1970s the computing giant IBM had plans for marketing a personal computer for home use. They approached Microsoft to develop the standard operating system for their home computer models. Gates and Allen then went out and purchased for $50,000 an operating system called Q-Dos,

First, Microsoft Windows. Microsoft began its dominance in the early 80s by developing DOS also known as disk operating system. This is the first operating system made for a PC. Then came Windows 9X which was later called Windows 95. Then it

Valve software is a successful entertainment and software company with over 300 employees. Valve software wanted to create a working environment that empowered their employees and gave them the freedom to be creative. What they have achieved is a very successful company that operates on a ‘flat’ structure where there are no managers or supervisors to report to and all employees are equals. “The company tries to keep its structure flat to remove or reduce barriers between the employees and the customers” (Valve steams ahead n.d).

The Linux was originally founded by Linus Torvalds. In 1991, he was a second year computer science student in Finland. He sought after an operating system that was similar to the UNIX system, but both UNIX and the hardware it ran on were excessively expensive. A UNIX version called Minix was available for free, but it did not reasonably meet his needs as it was simply an operating system for students, designed primarily as a teaching tool rather than an industry strength operating system. As a result, Torvalds studied Minix and proceeded to set out to write a new version. After six months of working to produce the new operating system, Torvalds made very little progress toward the utility of the system.