Frequently asked questions
How is the company celebrating its 50th anniversary?
Microsoft is commemorating our 50-year anniversary by celebrating the achievements of our employees, customers and partners that have dreamt, built and used Microsoft technology as a force for good, while also looking ahead to the future.
Microsoft recognizes that our success and growth globally would not have been possible without the support of the place we call home, the Puget Sound. We are honoring and awarding 50 local changemakers with $50,000 grants each to support the important work they do to address the needs of the region. Read more about the One Future, One Sound initiative.
What were Microsoft’s biggest accomplishments over the last 50 years?
Over the past five decades, Microsoft has driven innovation that has transformed the way that society uses technology both at work and at home, from revolutionizing personal computing with MS-DOS and Windows, bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet with Xbox, to driving the future of cloud computing with Azure and AI transformation with Copilot and our AI platform. We are proud of our employees, past and present, who have seized the opportunity to reinvent our company as tech paradigms shift, to stay relevant and earn the trust of our customers and partners.
For more information on the company’s key milestones, explore this timeline of Microsoft’s journey.
How has the company’s mission evolved?
The heart of Microsoft’s mission has always been about empowering people through technology, and this will continue as we look to the future.
In its beginnings, Bill Gates and Paul Allen articulated an ambitious vision for Microsoft and the industry, “a computer on every desk and in every home.” In 2002, the mission changed “to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential,” which was later expanded to include creating technology that transforms the way people learn, work, play and communicate. In 2015, CEO Satya Nadella evolved Microsoft’s mission “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
What has Microsoft learned over the past 50 years that drives the company today?
As a platform company, we’ve learned that we do well when the world does well. That is embodied in our mission, our business model, our practices and our culture. Our cultural journey is ongoing and adaptive, and over the last decade, we’ve grounded ourselves in a Growth Mindset culture. Internally, this has helped our employees embrace challenges, be curious, learn from failures and continuously seek improvement. Externally, this cultural transformation has enabled Microsoft to better understand and meet our customers’ needs and work to earn their trust every day.
We also believe deeply in the power of partnership and that no one person, company or government can solve the world’s problems alone. This insight drives Microsoft’s approach to partnerships, collaboration, openness and transparency, rooted in bringing people and organizations together to tackle challenges.
What is Microsoft focused on for the next 50 years?
As we look to the future, our mission remains to empower every person and organization, and our success hinges on how we harness AI and other technologies to amplify human achievement and create positive change for society.
The innovations we’re developing today will define the next five decades. And we remain focused on translating innovation into enduring value for our customers.
We are also recommitting ourselves to the framework that has made us successful – investing in our people, living up to our mission, earning the trust of our customers and the countries we operate in, innovating responsibly, prioritizing fundamentals with security above all else and building products where the world can benefit.
Image gallery: Through the decades
The photos below represent a sampling of a few key milestones and visuals from Microsoft’s 50–year history. For more images and photo details, download the press pack.
1980s
2000s
2010s
Executive quotes
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Satya Nadella
Executive Vice President, Office of Strategy and Transformation
Kathleen Hogan
Chief Technology Officer
Kevin Scott
President, Microsoft Research
Peter Lee
Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Judson Althoff
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Amy Hood
Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft AI
Mustafa Suleyman
Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Gaming
Phil Spencer
Chief Product Officer, Responsible AI
Sarah Bird
Corporate Vice President and Deputy CISO
Ann Johnson
Chief Sustainability Officer
Melanie Nakagawa
Corporate Vice President, Windows + Devices
Pavan Davuluri
Corporate Vice President, Business & Industry Copilot
Charles Lamanna
Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow
Jaime Teevan
President, Microsoft EMEA
Samer Abu-Ltaif
Vice President, Device Partner Sales
Mark Linton
Partner quotes
“Congratulations to Microsoft on this incredible milestone. Accenture is proud to have been a trusted partner on this journey—with more than three decades of joint investment and co-development focused on bringing Microsoft’s transformative technology to organizations across the world. Alongside our joint venture Avanade, we help our clients innovate and reinvent their businesses with Microsoft technology. As the world enters the intelligence era, we believe that deep strategic partnerships like ours are a competitive differentiator and together, we can help accelerate value for every enterprise, government and citizen for the next 50 years and beyond.”
Karthik Narain, Group Chief Executive – Technology and Chief Technology Officer, Accenture
“Acer has partnered with Microsoft for four decades, witnessing how their constant innovation has been instrumental to the development of computing technology. From PCs leading to the digital era, and now cloud and artificial intelligence driving transformation all around us, we’re excited to continue working together to create impactful solutions that drive change.”
Jerry Kao, Chief Operating Officer, Acer Inc.
“Congratulations to Microsoft on your 50th anniversary! This milestone is a testament to your tremendous innovation and impact. Adobe is proud to partner with Microsoft to deliver transformative digital experiences and we’re excited to keep pushing the boundaries of what technology and AI can help deliver for billions of people around the world.”
Shantanu Narayen, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Adobe
“Congratulations to Satya Nadella and the entire Microsoft team for an amazing 50 years of innovation! Microsoft is truly a pioneer in the industry and AMD is honored to be your partner. I’m incredibly proud of our collaboration and joint work together over the years—from driving the industry standard for personal computing with Windows, to powering the most important Azure cloud services used by so many every day with AMD EPYC and Instinct, to reaching billions of gamers with Xbox. I look forward to all we will do together over the coming years! Together, we’re shaping the future of AI and the next generation of computing.”
Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, AMD
“We are honored and proud to have built a solid, long-term partnership with Microsoft for over 30 years, a company that remains at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, and that has helped ASUS achieve its AI integration goals. We look forward to many more successful years of future collaboration.”
S.Y. Hsu and Samson Hu, Co-Chief Executive Officers, ASUS
“For more than four decades, Dell’s partnership with Microsoft has driven breakthrough innovations that transform industries, empower customers and improve lives around the world. Together, we’ve redefined possibilities, from personal computing to the AI-driven technologies shaping our future, and we look forward to what lies ahead.”
Jeff Clarke, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Dell Technologies
“For decades, Intel’s partnership with Microsoft has sparked innovation and delivered value to our customers. Together, we’ve revolutionized industries and established new benchmarks for excellence. We look forward to collaborating for the next 50 years—and beyond.”
Jim Johnson, Senior Vice President, Client Computing Group, Intel
“Having worked alongside every CEO of Microsoft in my career, I would like to personally congratulate Microsoft for its 50 extraordinary years of driving relentless innovation. From PC to mobile, and now onto the AI era, Lenovo and Microsoft have partnered in bringing personal computing to every household, enhancing enterprise productivity with Microsoft Office, and most recently in powering more personalized, productive, and protected Lenovo AI PCs with Copilot+ experiences, delivering cloud-based services and AI-driven IT solutions, enabling scalable infrastructure for the new AI era, and working towards a vision of personal AI twins and enterprise AI twins. Lenovo is proud to be a major part of this amazing journey with Microsoft and we are committed to this partnership for many more decades to come.”
Yuanqing Yang, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Lenovo
“Our long-standing strategic alliance with Microsoft continues to drive transformative digital innovation, enabling us to deliver greater value to clients and accelerate business outcomes. We are committed to working together with Microsoft to help organizations harness AI and emerging technologies to navigate complexity, unlock new opportunities, and lead with confidence in the intelligent age. We continue to advance our 360-degree relationship, working with Microsoft to lead the future of innovation for our own operations, for Microsoft and for clients.”
Carl Carande, Global Head of Advisory at KPMG International and Vice Chair of Advisory at KPMG in the US
“Microsoft’s contribution to advancing computing over the past 50 years is worth celebrating. The NVIDIA and Microsoft partnership will continue to deliver the next era of accelerated computing and AI, from GeForce gaming to RTX AI PCs.”
Jeff Fisher, Senior Vice President for GeForce at NVIDIA
“As a proud Microsoft alum, I’ve seen firsthand how our collaboration has evolved to drive meaningful change for businesses across industries. From strategy through engineering and implementation, PwC and Microsoft drive innovation and deliver real business outcomes for clients worldwide.”
Stephanie Mosticchio, Principal, US and Global Microsoft Alliance Leader, PwC
“Red Hat and Microsoft have a long history of driving customer success together, from the datacenter to the cloud, out to the edge, and now, into the AI era. We continue to bring together Red Hat’s open-source expertise with Microsoft’s leading cloud capabilities to meet our customers wherever they are in their IT roadmap.”
Matt Hicks, President and Chief Executive Officer, Red Hat
“Partnering with Microsoft has allowed us to leverage cutting-edge technology, set new standards for excellence, and deliver value to our customers. Our collaboration has driven innovation, delivering the most premium PC experience in the industry with the Galaxy Book series, and seamlessly integrating Galaxy smartphone and PC capabilities to create an experience that truly resonates with our customers.”
Jay Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of Customer Experience Office, Samsung
“Many congratulations to the entire Microsoft team on this milestone anniversary! For 50 years, you have been at the forefront of technology and our longstanding partnership is a testament to our two companies’ shared commitment to innovation and transformation. Together, we have driven significant advancements in key areas from cloud computing to AI, always enabling our customers to stay ahead in an ever-evolving digital landscape. We’re excited about the many ways Microsoft and SAP will continue to push the boundaries and look forward to the next chapter in your incredible success story.”
Christian Klein, Chief Executive Officer, SAP
“Schneider Electric and Microsoft have been driven by a shared vision of world that is more electric and digital. We’re thrilled to celebrate Microsoft’s 50th anniversary and excited to continue pioneering innovative solutions together, harnessing the transformative power of AI, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for our customers and shaping a sustainable future for generations to come.”
Frederic Godemel, Executive Vice President, Energy Management, Schneider Electric
“50 years is an enormous milestone, and it’s our honor to celebrate Microsoft as both a customer and partner on their journey. Their history of innovation has been instrumental in shaping the future of technology and is why ServiceNow values our partnership so deeply. Together we will keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and transforming how business gets done. Here’s to another 50 years!”
Erica Volini, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Industries, Partners, and Go-to-market at ServiceNow
“As someone who has led global partnerships at several of the world’s leading technology companies, I am impressed by how Microsoft has leaned in with their partner ecosystem and taken a leadership position in cloud computing and AI. We, at Snowflake, are excited to continue to strengthen our partnership in the years to come, and we look forward to jointly driving customer success in the age of enterprise AI. Congratulations Microsoft and thank you for your leadership and innovation.”
Tyler Prince, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels, Snowflake
“In the past five decades, Microsoft has consistently pushed the boundaries of technology, transforming the way we live, work, and connect. Microsoft’s role in democratizing technology innovation at scale has empowered organizations worldwide to streamline operations and enhance productivity. This relentless pursuit of excellence and commitment to groundbreaking solutions is common to both our organizations, especially as we deliver sustainable innovations that underscore our shared dedication to creating a better future for generations to come. Congratulations to Microsoft on reaching 50 years of innovation.”
Krishna Mohan, Head of Cloud Business Group, TCS
“Qualcomm is proud of our collaboration with Microsoft, from which we have delivered world-changing technology to market over the years. We share a commitment to delivering innovative solutions, and could not be more excited for what’s to come.”
Kedar Kondap, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.