Microsoft to Celebrate 30 years

HostReview.com
Thursday, September 22, 2005; 12:09 PM

Microsoft – built from the dream of a computer on every desk and in every home – commemorates 30 years at its annual Company Meeting on Friday, Sept. 23 at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Over 16,000 Redmond-based employees will attend to take time to reflect on a strong and memorable history and celebrate the company’s future, which promises to be the most incredible period of technological innovation yet.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer will congratulate employees for their contributions to date and share their vision for a prosperous future, primed by investments in areas as diverse and vital to the future of technology innovation as graphics, speech recognition, signal processing, facial-expression mapping and quantum computing.

Other company executives speaking at the event about different facets of the Microsoft business include Lisa Brummel, corporate vice president, Human Resources; Christopher Liddell, chief financial officer; Jim Allchin, co-president, Platforms Products & Services Division, and Jeff Raikes, president, Microsoft Business Division.

They will each give examples of current investments in the company’s future – from employee incentives to community service and technology advances visible in products today.

“As I think about the last 30 years," said Gates, commenting on the anniversary, "I’m most proud of our making 'big bets' on technologies like the graphical user interface or Web services and watching them grow into something people rely on every day.”

Said Ballmer, “We’re more excited than ever about the opportunities ahead. We have an amazing pipeline of new products we’ll be releasing over the next 18 months. “