Microsoft is 50. Yes 50.
To celebrate, they are holding a special 50th anniversary Copilot event today (Friday, April 4) at 9:30 AM Pacific Time (5:30pm UK Time). This actually makes me feel very old, as Microsoft were founded the year I was born!!
The event will be live-streamed here, directly on Microsoft’s website, so you can watch the announcements as they happen. If you go to the website, they have kindly included a calendar invite, which you can add to your calendar app of choice.
What to expect from the Microsoft @ 50 event
Microsoft have said that the “event” will focus on consumer AI announcements related to Microsoft Copilot, but knowing Microsoft, I expect there will be some other teaser announcements too.
Microsoft as a Copilot Company
Microsoft does not hide behind the fact that Microsoft are in fact a Copilot Company. Over the last few months, Microsoft has completely rebuilt the Consumer Copilot app for Windows and across mobile platforms and have recently included unlimited access to Copilot Voice, Vision and their latest Deep Research language models.
We have also seen (this year) the launch of the Copilot+ PCs, which were announced last year on both Qualcomm and Intel chipsets and their new flagship Copilot+ PC devices in Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7. We also continue to see more exclusive AI features that are powered by dedicated NPU chips coming to Windows 11 PCs. Features like Windows Recall, Click To Do, and AI in Windows Search, and of course updates to Windows Studio Effects and more. We have also seen new AI features across core “inbox” apps such as Paint, Notepad, Snip & Sketch and more. I expect there is more coming …..
Microsoft have also said that there is much more to come for Copilot so maybe we will get to see more of this vision and plan tomorrow (April 4th).
My personal glance back over the 50 years of Microsoft
Everyone will have their own stories and memories of milestones that made Microsoft who they are today. Personally I remember getting my first PC (Intel P90 processor, 2MB RAM and 100MB Hard drive) which ran MS-DOS 5.0 . I remember using Word Perfect in MS-DOS before deploying Windows 3.0 I seem to remember.
My next memory was working with Windows for Workgroups and Novell Netware, and then deploying Windows NT 3.51, Windows 3.11 and then working with an Oil Company doing Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 migrations on oil rigs in my early 20s.
I remember my first Xbox, my kids are no using Xbox One X and love games like Flight Simulator and Minecraft.
I’ve used Windows Phone (yes ok!), had a Microsoft Fitness Band (yes ok) and used MSN Messenger and Skype at length during my teen and early adult years!
We are now about to say goodbye to Windows 10, have seen Azure continue to gain market share in Cloud, Microsoft 365 be the worlds productivity suite and Microsoft become the biggest security company in the world.
The last few years has been all about AI with everything being about Copilot, even the PC with the launch of the Copilot Plus PC.
Today, I write this, after coming back from an incredible week at Microsoft MVP Summit in Seattle, full of excitement for what is coming next across the Microsoft eco system.