Does life begin at 40? For Microsoft perhaps not, as the company has had it fair share of pinnacles, but there is no doubt as it enters middle age there seems to be an emergence of new ideas and innovations coming out of Redmond.

Microsoft was born, April 4^th, 1975, and it soon became the dream of founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen to see a “computer on every desk and in every home”. 40 years later and Microsoft’s Windows operating system almost rules the desktop world with a 90% market share; its gaming console Xbox is looking in good shape and for the first time outsold Sony Inc.’s PS4 last year since they went on the market, and its productivity suite Office is still a world favorite, to mention just a few of the company’s ongoing successes. As the company pushes forward in an effort to see, “Microsoft services to every person on every device”, and we await to see if spectacular innovations such as the augmented reality headset, HoloLens, will become more a household name, you could say life at 40 is at least a little more exciting than life at 30.

On the occasion of Microsoft’s birthday Bill Gates sent a letter to company employees, reminiscing on times gone by, but also looking towards the future under the leadership of the company’s relatively new, but already celebrated CEO, Satya Nadella. The letter first appeared online when it was tweeted by Amit Choudhary.

Gates starts by acknowledging Microsoft’s major part in the evolution of computer technology, but quickly looks to a future in which “computing will become even more pervasive”, and where robots, as well as computers, will interact with consumers more naturally. He points to Cortana, Skype Translator, and HoloLens, as some of the products that will be instrumental in this computer/human natural habitat.

Gates, who spends much of his time now working as a philanthropist, accepts that much of the world still does not have access to the latest innovations. “Technology is still out of reach for many people, because it is complex or expensive, or they simply do not have access,” he writes, and asks his employees to help bring the power of computer technology to the wider-world.

“What matters most now is what we do next,” Gates writes, and signs off.

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