I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Microsoft’s 50th birthday party. Sure, cofounder Bill Gates and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would be there, but I was keen to see how Microsoft would create a party atmosphere while also launching new Copilot features. As it happens, having three CEOs onstage, some energetic hosts, and employee protesters sure kept things eventful.
The day kicked off with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reminiscing about how cofounders Bill Gates and Paul Allen built Microsoft 50 years ago, including how the pair created the software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer. Nadella also looked ahead to the next 50 years and demonstrated some improvements to GitHub Copilot that allow anyone to code. “What started out as a developer tools company 50 years ago is now a platform company where everyone can be a developer,” said Nadella. “Our mission has not changed, it’s only expanded.”
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman appeared onstage next to walk through new Copilot features and reminisce on how important Microsoft had been to him growing up. At just 11 years old, he convinced his parents to buy a PC with a Pentium processor and 8MB of RAM, allowing him to install Windows 95. “It’s no exaggeration to say that that machine completely transformed my life,” said Suleyman.
Suleyman had barely discussed Copilot for five minutes before Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad approached the stage shouting, “Mustafa, shame on you.” In a moment of confusion, I thought this was somehow part of the event before quickly realizing that it was a protest from an actual Microsoft employee. “You are a war profiteer,” continued Aboussad. “Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands.”
Aboussad was protesting against Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli government. Shortly after being ushered out of the event, she sent an email to thousands of Microsoft employees accusing the company of being complicit in the death and destruction in Gaza over the past 18 months.
Microsoft edited this protest out of its official event video, but Suleyman responded by saying several times, “Thank you for your protest, I hear you.” Microsoft refused to provide an on-the-record statement to The Verge about Aboussad’s protest.
Suleyman quickly moved on and closed the Copilot portion of the event with new features and a hint at custom appearances for the AI assistant — then the party really began.
Local Washingtonian band Allen Stone provided the music, and actor Brenda Song (The Social Network, Running Point) was the energetic host for the employee-only portion. Song kicked things off with a lot of memes about Clippy and the Xbox, before Bill Gates appeared for the first time to geek out and explain quantum computing and recite 17 decimal digits of Pi. The talk show format continued with a brief interview with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who admitted, with his bosses in the audience, to playing games “20 to 25 hours” per week, while wearing a Minecraft jacket.
Song then welcomed Bill Gates back onstage to discuss the early days of Microsoft and its big bet of putting a computer on every desk and in every home. “The new frontier is intelligence, which is even more profound than what came from the last 50 years,” he said.
Steve Ballmer was then invited onstage for his solo interview. Song urged him to show developers some love, and Ballmer went full Ballmer and shouted his iconic “developers, developers, developers!” chant, to much applause and laughter. A few moments later, he then led another chant: “50 more! 50 more! 50 more!” Ballmer’s appearance was definitely the highlight of the day for me personally.
After the energy of Ballmer, the talk show format returned with Microsoft communications chief Frank Shaw reading out some hilarious mean tweets about his PR activities and a somewhat cringey game show that involved a Microsoft history quiz. One Microsoft worker won a coveted seat in the front row of the event, as most employees were watching on screens around campus or streaming the event from their desks.
The moment we had all been waiting for wrapped up the event for the day, with Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella appearing onstage together for the first time in more than 10 years. Cleo Abram, who runs the series “Huge If True” on YouTube, led the fireside chat between the three CEOs.
All three were asked, “What is one quality you admire about one of the other two CEOs?” Bill Gates responded first. “I wrote more code than either of these guys, but when it comes to picking people, motivating people, thank god for Steve and Satya,” joked Gates.
Ballmer had high praise for Gates. “I’ve met a lot of smart people, and Bill is the smartest guy I’ve ever met. The ability to apply that and use that in all kinds of constructive ways, unparalleled and unmatched.”
Nadella discussed the honesty of both Gates and Ballmer. “Yesterday I was sitting in the middle of them and it was my worst nightmare, a Bill and Steve review together, it’s like ‘oh my god, how did I end up here, take me out of here,’” said Nadella, laughing away. “The intellectual rigor and honesty both have, Steve’s passion, I feel like all of us who grew up in the company with Bill he just made us better. The standards they set for how you get prepared, the work you do, it gives me goosebumps.”
The sounds of megaphone protests outside the venue occasionally broke through during moments of silence. Nadella had just finished discussing the times he looked to Gates and Ballmer for advice and guidance when a second protester appeared in the audience to disrupt the event. “Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” said Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, as some in the crowd began to boo. Gates chuckled and said “alright,” before returning to the discussion. “I think Steve and I almost cared too much, and our life was the company, and Satya has this ability to care as much as we did, but with more of a team,” he continued.
Shortly after disrupting Microsoft’s three CEOs, Agrawal also sent a mass email to thousands of colleagues, noting that she was resigning from the company and her last day would be Friday, April 11th. After the event, Microsoft fired the first protester, Ibtihal Aboussad, and Agrawal was dismissed ahead of her two-week notice period.
The protests were a surreal part of the event, especially as it was Microsoft employees who organized these interruptions after feeling frustrated that company leadership had ignored their concerns. Microsoft continued on as if nothing had happened again on the day, and the boos and jeering for the final protester certainly left a weird vibe in the room as the company wrapped up its 50th birthday by looking ahead to its next 50 years.
”It’s an amazing and exciting time,” remarked Gates. “The impact of this 10 years will be greater than any 10 year period in the company.” Ballmer agreed and was hopeful Microsoft would be alive and relevant in 50 years’ time. “That will be a testament to me, Bill, and Satya and probably three more CEOs, including Copilot,” said Ballmer. “You can decide whether Copilot is the CEO or the assistant, that’s to be determined.”
“Well, I hope Copilot’s a good CEO,” quipped Gates.
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