Microsoft’s 50th anniversary stage.

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 …

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