Bill Gates writes to Microsoft employees as company turns 40

On 4 April 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen started a company named Microsoft and the rest of the saga about the company is well known with Gates going on to become the wealthiest man in the world. He later gradually pulled back from the company to devote more time to his philanthropic initiatives through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

However, Gates was far from done with Microsoft and following Satya Nadella taking over as CEO, last year, Gates said he would be taking a bigger role at the company - using up to a third of his time to advise Microsoft employees on new products.

Meanwhile, The Verge, on Friday, reported that Gates sent the following letter to Microsoft employees to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary. The letter was posted on Twitter by Amit Choudhary, and its authenticity was confirmed to The Verge by sources.

''Tomorrow is a special day: Microsoft's 40th anniversary.

Early on, Paul Allen and I set the goal of a computer on every desk and in every home. It was a bold idea and a lot of people thought we were out of our minds to imagine it was possible. It is amazing to think about how far computing has come since then, and we can all be proud of the role Microsoft played in that revolution.

Today though, I am thinking much more about Microsoft's future than its past. I believe computing will evolve faster in the next 10 years than it ever has before. We already live in a multi-platform world, and computing will become even more pervasive. We are nearing the point where computers and robots will be able to see, move, and interact naturally, unlocking many new applications and empowering people even more.

Under Satya's leadership, Microsoft is better positioned than ever to lead these advances. We have the resources to drive and solve tough problems. We are engaged in every facet of modern computing and have the deepest commitment to research in the industry. In my role as technical advisor to Satya, I get to join product reviews and am impressed by the vision and talent I see. The result is evident in products like Cortana, Skype Translator, and HoloLens - and those are just a few of the many innovations that are on the way.

In the coming years, Microsoft has the opportunity to reach even more people and organisations around the world. Technology is still out of reach for many people, because it is complex or expensive, or they simply do not have access. So I hope you will think about what you can do to make the power of technology accessible to everyone, to connect people to each other, and make personal computing available everywhere even as the very notion of what a PC delivers makes its way into all devices.

We have accomplished a lot together during our first 40 years and empowered countless businesses and people to realise their full potential. But what matters most now is what we do next. Thank you for helping make Microsoft a fantastic company now and for decades to come.''

Meanwhile, with Microsoft turning 40, commentators have been looking for cues as to how the company was positioned for the future in the rapidly evolving computing environment.  Nadella had led a presentation that focused on certain products, most starkly through the HoloLens, the augmented reality headset that would allow users to work and play via a device that placed interactive holograms on the surfaces and the global users.

Commentators say, over the longer term, this could pave the way for more immersive software for all manner of productivity and leisure activity, via Microsoft products.