Microsoft Shuts Down The Garage, Its Internal Innovation Lab

Microsoft has shut down The Garage, the network of spaces where employees built experimental projects, apps and new hardware features. The program also hosted the company's annual internal hackathons.

Physical Garage sites began closing on October 23. The company also plans to rethink the format of its yearly hackathon, though there is no indication so far that the event will be discontinued.

Fifteen years of side projects

The Garage launched in 2009. Its main site was on Microsoft's campus in Redmond, with 15 more locations across the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The spaces were equipped so staff could pursue their own ideas using the company's tools, technologies and expertise. Some of those experiments could later grow into full products under the Microsoft brand.

The program drew wider attention in 2014, when Satya Nadella backed it. That same year it hosted a large hackathon that brought together 11,000 participants from 80 countries.

What it leaves behind

Over its lifetime The Garage produced a number of well-known products, including Journal, Arrow Launcher (later renamed Microsoft Launcher), Word Flow and Plumbago, among others.

For Microsoft employees, the closure removes a dedicated place and a recognized route for turning side ideas into shipped software. The company has not said what, if anything, will replace the physical spaces, and the future shape of the hackathon remains open while the format is under review.