After five decades, Microsoft continues to discuss the same topics it did in 1975, albeit with new technologies. Can Copilot assist Redmond in remaining relevant for another fifty years?
As I attended Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, observing all three of the company’s CEOs—Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella—on stage, I couldn’t help but reflect on the company’s history and future. Nadella has directed the company towards his AI Copilot initiative, unveiling several new features for the consumer versions. These evolving objectives are also evident in the existing roadmaps. However, this is not the first occasion the company has adjusted or expanded its focus.
Constantly Challenging Boundaries
During the event, Gates reminisced about founding the company in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at a time when the software industry barely existed. (He frequently recounts the catalyst for launching the company: Paul Allen discovered a copy of Ziff-Davis’ Popular Electronics featuring the Altair 8800 on the cover and brought it to his dorm room.)
At that time, Gates remarked, he and Allen were puzzled that others failed to recognize a critical truth about personal computers. The rapid advancements in chips would mean that hardware and computation would essentially become inexpensive, but software would be necessary to utilize the computer effectively. Thus, they established a company focused on creating that valuable software.
From the outset, Gates mentioned that he envisioned Microsoft as not being a single-product enterprise, unlike most of his rivals. Instead, he stated, “We were constructing a software factory, employing the finest talent, developing superior tools, and consistently pushing the boundaries.”
Microsoft’s inaugural product was a BASIC language interpreter for the Altair, and soon after, the company began producing BASIC software for nearly all computers in the budding personal computing market. My first encounter with Microsoft was through its BASIC for the TRS-80 Model 1. By the time I had my first meeting with Gates and visited Microsoft, the company had relocated to Bellevue, Washington, (where it could still fit in a single building) and was marketing a wide array of software. The most significant of these was DOS, originally developed for the IBM PC and later utilized by many machines.
Despite having an expansive vision of “a PC on every desk, and in every home, operating Microsoft software,” Gates shared with the audience at the anniversary event that in the company’s early days, he and Ballmer were always somewhat cautious regarding their forecasts. Even though they aimed to develop various types of software, they adopted a “one step at a time” strategy.
‘There Was Turmoil’
As Ballmer, who was Gates’ right-hand man during that time, recalled, “In 1980, there was no industry; it was chaotic. Everyone was small until IBM entered the scene in 1981, and then things grew large and more professional. It took a considerable part of the next two decades for software and personal microprocessor-powered devices to truly take off. It was quite exciting.”
Numerous significant advancements were underway. I remember visiting Microsoft around that time and witnessing an early version of software that was initially called Microsoft Interface Manager, which later became known as Windows. (To my knowledge, I’m the only individual who reported on it under the Interface Manager name.) The first version of Windows was released in 1985 as an interface that operated on top of DOS, but it wasn’t until Windows 95 that it truly became the industry standard.
Microsoft moved to Redmond in 1986, and at that time, the campus seemed enormous for a software company. (It has grown significantly larger since.) The following decade is often associated with Windows and the complex relationship—and subsequent rivalry—with IBM. I had numerous discussions with Microsoft executives regarding both their products and their relationship with the hardware giant.
Intense Competition
I also recall this as the period when Microsoft’s applications began to thrive, with Microsoft Word challenging WordPerfect and Lotus’s AmiPro; Excel competing against Lotus 1-2-3 and later Borland’s Quattro; and PowerPoint going up against Harvard Graphics and later Lotus and WordPerfect offerings. The competition during that era was fierce, and I fondly remember visiting each of these companies repeatedly and witnessing new versions. Microsoft’s products eventually merged to form Microsoft Office, which remains extremely popular today in its online version, Microsoft 365.
At the anniversary celebration, Ballmer praised the employees for being not only “incredibly intelligent” and creative, but also competitive. “Innovation is crucial, but it’s a game where competition matters,” he remarked. “Like in sports—ultimately, there’s a winner and a loser. At Microsoft, there are no losers here, folks!”
That competitive spirit was evident throughout the 1990s. When the Web started to gain traction in the mid-1990s, Microsoft was initially perceived as trailing behind Netscape Navigator. However, after it released new iterations of Internet Explorer, Microsoft found itself the subject of an antitrust lawsuit that seemed to envelop the company. For a while, it appeared as though Microsoft could face a breakup, but a settlement was eventually reached.
In 2000, Ballmer took over as CEO from Gates. Many events unfolded during that time, including the launch of the Xbox and later missteps with a portable music device (the Zune) and smartphones. Nevertheless, I believe the 2000s marked the period when Microsoft’s enterprise offerings—like Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, and business versions of Office—became the standard.
Nadella succeeded Ballmer in 2014 after leading Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise division. I view his tenure, at least until now, as marked by a significant pivot towards cloud services, particularly with the Office 365 (now Microsoft 365) applications and the rise of Azure as a prominent cloud platform. Throughout this time, Microsoft has rolled out numerous Azure service offerings, data and analytics solutions, and security tools, among others.
‘On the Brink of Something Even More Significant’
Currently, Copilot is at the forefront, serving as the highlight of the event. (More information on that will come in a subsequent post.) Gates remarked, “Now the new frontier is intelligence, and…we’re nearing something even more remarkable than what transpired in those first 50 years.”
Personally, I still relish learning about and experimenting with the newest technological advancements from Microsoft and its rivals. The potential of the new AI software excites me, though I’m somewhat doubtful about many of the assertions and a bit concerned about the possible drawbacks. I appreciate much of the concept behind Copilot and its competitors, but in my view, most of the tools have yet to live up to the expectations set. Nonetheless, it’s still early in the game.
Looking ahead, the three CEOs were asked what they hoped the company would accomplish by its 100th anniversary. Gates jokingly said, “I hope Copilot is the CEO.” Ballmer noted that it’s quite rare for companies to remain significant and relevant for a century. If Microsoft is thriving by then, Ballmer stated, it would be a testament not only to him, Bill, and Satya, but also to the next three CEOs.
Nadella remarked that after 50 years, the company continues to discuss the same challenges it faced at its inception, albeit with different technologies. “Technology comes and goes, but we are still focused on the same objective: how do you empower everyone with software and intelligence to achieve more?”