Microsoft winds down The Garage, the 17-year-old home of its Global Hackathon and employee maker spaces

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, GeekWire reported on Tuesday, citing an internal FAQ. The Garage will no longer operate “as a centralized function,” and the effect on each physical space “will vary by location.”

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Some Garage spaces could be restricted as early as Friday, Oct. 23, and employees cannot take equipment, tools or materials with them. Neither the FAQ nor Microsoft’s statement says which spaces are affected. As of this year, Microsoft listed Garage locations in 15 regions, including Redmond, Vancouver, B.C., the Bay Area, New York City, Ireland, Israel, India and Beijing.

“We regularly evaluate how we use our physical spaces to best support our employees, customers and partners,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “Innovation and a builder mindset remain central to how we work every day.” The FAQ says the hackathon team is “reimagining the program,” and Microsoft’s public Garage website was redirecting to the company homepage on Tuesday morning.

The Garage began in 2009 inside Microsoft’s Office Labs group with the slogan “Doers. Not Talkers.” In July 2014 it ran Microsoft’s first companywide hackathon, which drew more than 11,000 registrants from 80 countries, and it released experimental apps such as Mouse without Borders and Arrow Launcher, which became Microsoft Launcher for Android. Microsoft closed its campus libraries in January and its Redmond Visitor Center a month later.