TechMicrosoftNotepadMicrosoft shuts down its beloved maker spaceMicrosoft closes The Garage, a key part of its hacker culture.Microsoft closes The Garage, a key part of its hacker culture.by Tom WarrenOct 22, 2026, 4:00 PM UTCShareGiftMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella at a hackathon event in 2016. Image: MicrosoftTom Warren is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.Microsoft is closing down The Garage, a set of popular maker spaces where employees worked on experimental projects and collaborated on surprising new apps and hardware during the company’s annual hackathon events.“We’re winding down The Garage program as a centralized function,” says Microsoft in an internal FAQ to employees, seen by Notepad. “We will continue to explore new ways to help employees build skills, collaborate across boundaries, and bring a hacker mindset to their work.” GeekWire first reported on The Garage’s closure.The main Garage space was located at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, campus and served as the central hub for around 15 Garage locations across the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Microsoft employees could use it to experiment with prototypes, build hardware, and even turn hobbies into full Microsoft products.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella regularly attended Garage hackathons, giving employees a chance to showcase their projects and attract the attention of senior executives. Many apps and services have emerged from The Garage over its 17-year history, including the AI-powered Seeing AI app that describes objects and text to people who are blind or have low vision.
It was born out of a 2015 hackathon event and shipped 10 years ago.Microsoft employee Tuong Do used The Garage to develop Mouse Without Borders in his spare time, working on it during evenings and weekends. The app is still available today and lets you control up to four PCs with a single mouse and keyboard. Microsoft employees have also used The Garage to develop new learning tools and accessibility features for Word, Microsoft Edge, and PowerPoint. I would point you to the Microsoft Garage hall of fame for a list of all the top projects, but Microsoft has removed the website — erasing the rich history of its employee-led workshop.One of the most famous success stories of The Garage was Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller.
The accessibility-focused Xbox controller was a collective effort by employees across Xbox and Surface, but it originated at a hackathon event where employees were experimenting with building a gaming device that used Kinect motion-sensing technology to track movements and translate them to an Xbox controller.An executive saw the nearly 40-person team trying to build the project, turned it into a real thing, and eventually more than 80 employees were involved with bringing the Xbox Adaptive Controller to life. While the device was nearly cut due to budget constraints, it eventually launched and went on to become the star of Microsoft’s 2019 Super Bowl commercial.Microsoft is now planning to wind down its Garage locations, and some spaces will be closed as soon as tomorrow, Friday, October 23rd. The closure of The Garage will also mean changes to Microsoft’s annual employee hackathon event, which could potentially disappear. “As we look to the future, the hackathon team is reimagining the program to meet the needs of today’s employees, customers, and technology landscape. We’ll have more to share at a later date,” says Microsoft’s internal FAQ.Internally, the company is trying to sell employees on the idea that “the spirit of experimentation that once lived primarily in dedicated programs is now reflected in how teams work every day.” Employees I’ve spoken to see the closure as the latest in Microsoft’s continued cutbacks.Earlier this year Microsoft closed its employee library and cut back on subscriptions in favor of an “AI-powered learning experience.” The library used to house thousands of books, journals, and reports that employees could use to learn, research, and explore ideas — much like The Garage.“We’re grateful to the employees, volunteers, and partners who helped build The Garage and look forward to continuing its legacy in new forms,” says Microsoft’s FAQ.
It’s hard to imagine anything replicating the unique mix of expert advisers, dedicated maker spaces, hands-on workshops, and internship programs that The Garage offered employees looking to develop new skills.Microsoft employee causes an Xbox AI stir. Microsoft employee Brandon Stirrup posted multiple times on X this week to get everyone talking about AI use in gaming. “Gaming is the only industry where leaders are afraid to talk about AI,” said Stirrup. “Users want the truth. We’re using AI.” Stirrup’s posts elicited the usual response from gamers against AI, but he said he’s “happy to take the hit if it means hundreds at Xbox can stop pretending that they’re not using AI.” Hours after Stirrup’s posts, he disabled his X account.Microsoft’s new Photos app combines your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud galleries. Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, combining images and videos from your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into a single space.
The new app includes a redesigned viewer, a native editor, and a new gallery view. The new editor is the most interesting aspect to me personally, simply because it loads a lot faster now and lets you quickly crop and edit photos. You can also edit HDR, HEIC, and WebP photos. The viewer has also been sped up, with improved HDR viewing and better file type support.Microsoft says Windows 11 is now “more responsive” and runs better on 8GB of RAM.
Microsoft’s fixes for Windows 11 have made it “up to 20 percent more responsive,” according to the company. Microsoft has made improvements to Start, File Explorer, Search, Edge, and other parts of Windows 11 to make the OS feel faster. A big part of the improvements comes down to better memory management, to the point where there is now a “meaningful difference” on PCs with just 8GB of RAM. I still think there is still a way to go to fully improve Windows 11, but these are great first steps compared to a year ago.Ikea’s Xbox collection is now available online.
The new nine-piece “Yxstaby” collection from Ikea was designed in collaboration with Microsoft. It debuted first at Ikea’s physical stores earlier this month, and it’s now available to order online. The line includes accessories and furniture inspired by Xbox controllers.Nvidia’s latest GPU driver brings a new way to speed up PC games. Nvidia has rolled out a new GPU driver (621.01) this week that enables Microsoft’s new Advanced Shader Delivery technology to speed up game launches.
The technology also removes mid-game “just-in-time” shader compilation, reducing stuttering and CPU spikes. Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery works by offloading shader compilation for different hardware combinations to the cloud. Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 now both support Advanced Shader Delivery, as long as you download the games via the Xbox PC app. “This system is storefront-agnostic, meaning you benefit even when playing games purchased on Steam, as long as the Xbox PC app is installed on your PC,” says Nvidia’s Andrew Burnes.Microsoft donated $10 million to Trump’s ballroom. The Washington Post has obtained a list of all the major donors to Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors.
Microsoft donated $10 million, which puts it roughly in the middle set of tech donations from the likes of Apple ($25 million), Amazon ($5 million), Nvidia ($25 million), Google ($22 million), and Meta ($5 million).Xbox mandates a four-day return to office. Microsoft asked its employees to return to the office three days
Leave a Reply