[exsf0859]

I think MS went open plan starting in '07 with the "The Commons" campus. Some parts like Bungie were open plan much earlier. (The Bungie team demanded it, they felt it improved collaboration.)

But before that, regular MS engineers were often "temporarily" doubled up or tripled up in their offices, so going open plan wasn't as much of a difference as it might have been.

In the old days people's computers and monitors were physically much larger, you needed multiple computers to multi-task, and you needed lots of paper documentation. One reason we're open-plan now is that people can be very productive with a chair, laptop, and 24" monitor.