Microsoft’s transformation for 2012-2013 and beyond has been punctuated by the release of a new logo for the company released today.  This is the first time this has happened in 25 years.  The change heralds a wave of product releases and changes across their consumer and professional products.  The new logo reflects the company’s new direction and simplification of its products.

The company states on the Technet blog:

Starting today, you’ll see the new Microsoft logo being used prominently. It will be used on Microsoft.com – the 10th most visited website in the world. It is in three of our Microsoft retail stores today (Boston, Seattle’s University Village and Bellevue, Wash.) and will shine brightly in all our stores over the next few months. It will sign off all of our television ads globally. And it will support our products across various forms of marketing. Fully implementing a change like this takes time, so there may be other instances where you will see the old logo being used for some time.

The change is benign, and familiar – yet significant and it is clear to see that the traditional wavy Windows logo is no longer a component.  The symbol appears to mirror the tiles-based interface prevalent in Windows 8, Windows 8 Mobile, and Server 2012.  Check out below for some of the company’s classic logo looks through history, ending with the Windows element Microsoft logo.

First MS logo: