Microsoft shuts the door on The Garage, the central program behind its hackathon and maker spaces

Employees work on a soldering project during a workshop in a Microsoft Garage space. Microsoft is winding down The Garage as a companywide program, and some spaces could be restricted as early as this week. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft is winding down The Garage as a companywide program, ending a 17-year run for the effort that gave employees space and tools for side projects and ran the company’s Global Hackathon, according to an internal FAQ viewed by GeekWire. The program, with a flagship location on Microsoft’s Redmond campus and more than a dozen other sites from Vancouver, B.C., to Beijing, became part of the company’s push for a more experimental culture under Satya Nadella, who took over as CEO in 2014. In the FAQ, Microsoft says the experimentation that started in dedicated programs and spaces like The Garage now happens “every day within each of our teams,” as employees build new skills and adopt new tools in their regular work. The FAQ says the company is “reinventing how we foster innovation, learning, and experimentation” across Microsoft. The move comes as Microsoft spends heavily on AI, much of it for data centers and other infrastructure, while cutting costs and jobs in other parts of the business. Related The Garage never should have existed: Why Microsoft’s grassroots innovation lab worked for so long @media (max-width: 600px) { aside.callout { float:none !important; max-width:100% !important; margin-left:0 !important; margin-right:0 !important; } aside.callout .callout-img { display:none !important; } } “We regularly evaluate how we use our physical spaces to best support our employees, customers and partners,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of that ongoing work, we’re making changes to some Garage spaces. Innovation and a builder mindset remain central to how we work every day.” The company declined to comment further, including on the effect on Garage employees. The Garage will no longer operate “as a centralized function,” according to the FAQ, and the impact on each physical space “will vary by location.” Some Garage spaces could be restricted as early as Friday, Oct. 23. Neither the FAQ nor Microsoft’s statement says which spaces are affected, including the flagship location in Redmond. Employees can’t take equipment, tools or materials with them. The future of the Global Hackathon is also unsettled. The FAQ says the hackathon team is “reimagining the program” and that Microsoft will have more to share later. …