Moving forward, however, Microsoft realized that paid software is a more difficult sell in an age of low-cost alternatives. Instead it was personified by small changes the company nonetheless hopes will inspire customers to part with hard-earned dollars for an almost identical device and user experience. Its stock price languished, inching up 3 percent in the decade through the end of It is difficult to recall a modern American business so thoroughly dominated by the ideas and personality of one individual as Apple was under the tutelage of Steve Jobs. Compare Investment Accounts.