Microsoft turns 50

Microsoft has fired one of the employees who disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary event. In an email seen by The Verge, Microsoft told Ibtihal Aboussad that their employment has been terminated due to “acts of misconduct.”

Aboussad was one of two protesters that interrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event on Friday by calling Microsoft’s AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, a “war profiteer” and demanding that Microsoft “stop using AI for genocide in our region.” A second protester, Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later on in the event. Both Microsoft employees also sent separate emails to thousands of coworkers, calling on Microsoft to cut its contracts with the Israeli government.

A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI.

“Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all.”

In 2005, Microsoft’s leaders were starting to get worried. Windows and Office were doing well, but the company’s lead software architect, Ray Ozzie, warned them that an emerging trend threatened Microsoft’s very existence.

“A new business model has emerged in the form of advertising-supported services and software,” warned Ozzie in his famous memo. “This model has the potential to fundamentally impact how we and other developers build, deliver, and monetize innovations.”

Fifty years ago today, Micro-Soft was founded by friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen. As the name implies, Microsoft was originally focused on microprocessors and software, and Gates and Allen created the company to develop software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer.

Founded on April 4th, 1975, Microsoft went on to strike a deal with IBM to provide software for its first PC in 1980. This became the foundation of MS-DOS, which dominated IBM-compatible PCs during the ’80s. Microsoft’s early success in developing software for PCs eventually led to the first version of Windows in 1985 and a dream of a PC on every desk and in every home.

This week, on April 4th, Microsoft turns 50 years old. The company has gone through sweeping changes over that time — from two guys in New Mexico to more than a quarter-million employees worldwide, from making text-based operating systems to holographic video games — but through the decades, it’s remained a foundation of the tech world.

Microsoft has made a lot of products over its 50 years, ranging from file formats and PC accessories to cloud servers and design languages. A great many were duds — it’s hard to nail everything over five decades — but a lot were memorable, fascinating, or simply excellent products that would go on to be used by billions of people or change the industry in their wake.

Microsoft has started sending out invites to a 50th anniversary and Copilot event at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The April 4th event will take place on the day Microsoft marks 50 years since it was first founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975.

The event on Microsoft’s campus will include an employee-only celebration of the company’s 50 years, alongside details on what’s next for the consumer side of Microsoft’s Copilot AI companion. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, and other “leaders of past and present” will be part of the Copilot and 50th anniversary event.