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Microsoft's CEO Looks To a Future Beyond Windows, iOS, and Android (theverge.com) 53

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
The future of the next 46 billion devices. From a report: "What do you think is the biggest hardware business at Microsoft?" asked Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella last week during a private media event. "Xbox," answered a reporter who had been quizzing Nadella on how the company's hardware products like Surface and Xbox fit into the broader ambitions of Microsoft. "No, it's our cloud," fired back Nadella, explaining how Microsoft is building everything from the data centers to the servers and network stack that fit inside. As the reporter pushed further on the hardware point, a frequent question given Microsoft's focus on the cloud, Nadella provided us with the best vision for the modern Microsoft that moves well beyond the billion-or-so Windows users that previously defined the company.

"The way I look at it is Windows is the billion user install base of ours. We continue to add a couple of hundred million PCs every year, and we want to serve that in a super good way," explained Nadella. "The thing that we also want to think about is the broader context. We don't want to be defined by just what we achieved. We look at if there's going to be 50 billion endpoints. Windows with its billion is good, Android with its 2 billion is good, iOS with its billion is good -- but there is 46 billion more. So let's go and look at what that 46 billion plus 4 [billion] looks like, and define a strategy for that, and then have everything have a place under the sun."
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Microsoft's CEO Looks To a Future Beyond Windows, iOS, and Android More

Microsoft's CEO Looks To a Future Beyond Windows, iOS, and Android

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  • We have partial customer lock-in with our OS (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @02:14PM (#59644962)

    but we'd rather have complete customer lock-in with our cloud - is what this shit means.

    • Re:We have partial customer lock-in with our OS (Score:5, Insightful)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @02:24PM (#59644996)

      but we'd rather have complete customer lock-in with our cloud - is what this shit means.

      And you say that as if this "shit" isn't the exact MO of every other competitor.

      Let me know when you find one that hates telemetry, hates cloud computing, and still charges actual money for the product because they understand and respect the concept of ownership.

    • but we'd rather have complete customer lock-in with our cloud - is what this shit means.

      With fast enough networking, you could receive a new image of your operating system and personal data from the cloud, every time you reboot your computer. Not that that is in any way a good thing.

      And think of all the opportunities to stream ads directly from the cloud to your eyes and ears.

      I weep for the future.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Yet the opposite should be the reality. With more reliable and more powerful computers, more compact storage and far more reliable and secure operating systems, the cloud in reality should die. What is feeding the cloud more than anything else, think about it, really stop to think what drives people to the cloud. Want to know in reality what feeds the cloud, crap unreliable and insecure operating systems. The number one thing that feeds the cloud is unreliable and insecure Windows Networks.

        So does M$ make

    • We have partial hegemony over computing devices in general but we're looking forward to our total and complete dominion over all computing devices in the future.

      That's REALLY what this shit means, and it's not like I and countless others haven't been saying that's what they're after all along.

  • If MS plays their cards right, PC's or any computing hardware would be just another place to host "the cloud". "The cloud" shouldn't mean just "server farm", it should also mean a CPU on a thumb-drive. In other words, virtualization of hardware.

    The fat-client/fast-server pendulum has typically swung back and forth over the years and will probably continue to swing. Thus, one shouldn't bet the farm on more servers or more clients etc. Rather, make the location moot. If a customer wants to host their apps in

    • It seems ironic to me how Microsoft once rebelled against the idea of the computer as a dumb client used to access remote services and now it's their primary strategic goal. IBM should sue for copyright infringement.

    • That would make it easy to move your "smarts" (+data!) onto competitors' systems. Or onto a private (local?) cloud. Which might be counterproductive from MS point of view.

      The way I read the article, MS strategy is more like: they don't care what underlying OSes are used. Or where the heavy lifting is done. Or what exactly 'dumb' endpoints consist of. As long as it's organized such that you keep paying the "MS tax" subscription-style. Probably that involves having the smarts and/or use

      • That would make it easy to move your "smarts" (+data!) onto competitors' systems.

        Not necessarily. MS could sell or bundle "adapters" that allow MS-centric apps or stacks to run on a particular device. It's more like multi-sized Windows OS's. You could stick Windows (or MS's new "cloud thing") on a wide variety of devices, but you still have to pay MS for this adapter, or their rented software only works on their adapter.

        For example, MS-Office may be runnable on a thumb-drive using their "free" thumb-drive a

  • Silly speculation about 50 billion devices completely ignores which entities will be providing 5G. 5G comes from phone companies. Is there anything in the past behavior of phone companies which leads us to believe that the price to provide 50 billion devices with connectivity isn't $500 billion? If not now, then eventually. Amazon tried to provide "free" cellular service for Kindles. It didn't take long for them to eliminate the 3G option, and hide the 4G option, and the 4G option has already seen a $2

  • There are only 7.7 billion people alive just now, and less than half of them are in developed nations, is everybody going to have 10 devices? Greta would have an aneurysm.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      There are only 7.7 billion people alive just now, and less than half of them are in developed nations, is everybody going to have 10 devices? Greta would have an aneurysm.

      If you're going to count everything down to a remote-controllable light bulb, why not? Everything from a wireless doorbell to your Roomba can talk to the WiFi and become a "connected" device. What I miss though is a really low cost plug like 1st gen USB to a house central, if my freezer/refrigerator could text me to say "hey idiot, you've left the door ajar and it's getting hot in here" that'd be great. Or if my washing machine could remind me I've forgotten to empty the machine and if I don't do it soon my

      • Something that's so cheap and basic every product would care to support it.

        If cost is the problem, then the focus should be on protocols not products. Unfortunately, many or most companies would prefer to implement their own interfaces and communication systems, quite often built atop standard or at least well known protocols.

        My recent experience with wireless network cameras is a case in point. Many of them "require" you to use a smartphone "app" to configure and view, even if there are already established, even if non-standard, methods for doing these things, such as the HTML CG

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by BeerCat ( 685972 )

      is everybody going to have 10 devices?

      Back in the early 1980s, when Bill Gates claimed that there would be a computer in every home, it seemed a bit optimistic. At that time, it seemed as only the really well off might get themselves a home computer (which might not even be running MS software).

      Now, while it sounds the same kind of outlandish statement, I'm not so sure.

      There are probably quite a few people who already have: phone (or tablet); smart TV; streaming service device (eg: Amazon firestick); games console; PC (or laptop). And then they

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by brunes69 ( 86786 )

      I live in a 3 person household.

      I just did a quick off the cuff count of all the connected devices in the house and came up with 27. I suspect if I dug into it I would pass 30 easily.

    • If anything Microsoft is being conservative with 50 billion! Those are rookie numbers, we can get that shit waaaay up.

      First, think of everything that should not be hooked up to a network.

      Next, assume every single one of those things will be connected to a network.

      Finally, reboot your toaster to install important security updates.

  • If I was Microsoftâ(TM)s CEO, Iâ(TM)d be looking forward to a future without Windows, too. Desperately. Longingly.

  • "The broader context" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chris Mattern ( 191822 ) on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @02:54PM (#59645076)

    "We want you to be continuously paying us money, forever."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      To be fair, it's hard for the typical corporation to not hitch their wagon to at least one big IT company. Sure, with enough effort one can go mostly open-source, but it takes good oversight to make sure this is done properly. Since IT is not the core function of a typical org, they'll probably foul that up, being the top managers don't understand anything "beyond the screen" they see. Just being open-source by itself doesn't mean it has no risk or no strings attached.

    • FWIW that aspect of their 'empire building' and quest for dictatorship over all things computing isn't just Microsoft, it's most of the corporate world right now: 'rent everything, own nothing', and I mean in all aspects of our day-to-day lives. For quite some time now The Few/The Rich have been trying to convince/indoctrinate people that 'owning' things is bad somehow, and 'renting' everything is somehow better: housing, transportation, electronics, software, you-name-it, some company wants to 'provide' it

  • 46 billion subscriptions (Score:3)

    by RotateLeftByte ( 797477 ) on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @02:56PM (#59645084)

    at $9.99 per month.
    That's what he wants. That's what he sees in his wet dreams.

    Ain't gonna happen.

  • I for one definitely appreciate him highlighting the importance of sanity and mental clarity. Certainly agree we need to look to a future where people who are mentally deluded are eased out of their CEO position and given adequate mental health care whether that means moving beyond the corporate headquarters and into Arkham Asylum.

  • So Linux is their future? (Score:3)

    by HalAtWork ( 926717 ) on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @03:45PM (#59645302)

    No wonder they are building out support for it straight into Windows.

  • Every business magazine mentions the cloud with pictures of clouds and how it's the future without every really going into any detail of what the cloud actually is, most people recognize that this is just filler for a low subscriber magazine, but Microsoft CEO bought the jargon hook line and sinker. Everyone is saying the cloud is the future, therefore Microsoft should get this cloud thing caught and pulled inside. Get the engineers on the problem asap, before the clouds float away. Virtual Machines? Server

    • Reminds me of that ancient story where Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella traveled to the peak of Kangchenjunga, the highest mountain in India, with 270 trained mules carrying suppliees for a support team of thousands of trained computer software technicians.

      The mountain is one of the deadliest peaks in the world and countless individuals lost their lives as they were attacked by falling rocks and captured by dragons who took their prey back to the nest so that they could be used as chew toys by their offspring.

      Wh

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sfcat ( 872532 )

        Reminds me of that ancient story where Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella traveled to the peak of Kangchenjunga, the highest mountain in India, with 270 trained mules carrying suppliees for a support team of thousands of trained computer software technicians.

        Do you install servers for a living? The cloud is popular because it's NOT your company's useless IT department, period. Getting that albatross from around the developer's necks is so valuable that even if the cloud costs 2x as much (it doesn't) you still come out ahead. Maybe you are the one IT person who does know what they are doing. But do you have absurdly fast network interconnects in your data center? Do you have an efficient self service model for getting new/more hardware? Can you dynamically

  • I never thought I'd say this, but I complete agree with the CEO of Microsoft: I too cannot wait for a future without Windows, iOS, and Android. Unfortunately, some of the apps I need to use still require these abominations, so in the meantime I'm stuck. The good news is that if Nadella gets his way, those apps will be available in cloud form and will be more likely to run on platforms other than Windows, iOS, and Android.
    • I'd rather be tied to a thing I have in my pocket and that I can use offline than to some amorphous entity called the Cloud. Funny that those worried about paying the yearly MS upgrade tax don't mind the very real fees that their favorite network provider charges them that recur with far greater regularity.
  • Windows and Office is what made your company huge. It would be smart to stick with that. But people are not smart these days. What happens when "cloud" is not cool anymore and you poured your entire business model into it? #OOPS.

  • Microsoft child support (Score:4, Insightful)

    by labnet ( 457441 ) on Wednesday January 22, 2020 @04:04PM (#59645362)

    Microsoft is like having to pay child support to children who aren’t even yours even after they became adults and left home.

  • Now the dialogue starts on Operating System as a Service. No thanks, I'll be running Windows 7 for a long time for the two apps I have to keep Windows for. Linux Mint 19.x for day to day email and browsing. We knew this day was coming, didn't we?
  • Of course the cloud isn't really one product like an Xbox so that's kind of a BS comparison, but MS or even NVIDIA or Roku could turn the TV into a much more profitable and exciting platform. There is huge potential there. People get tired of gadgets like tablets and even smartphones, these things are all pretty limited with their portable size and tiny screen and horrible keyboards. TVs are in peoples living room and bedrooms. They can use much more complex and comfortable input methods. People love comme

  • Azure (Score:3)

    by sonamchauhan ( 587356 ) <sonamc@NOsPam.gmail.com> on Thursday January 23, 2020 @05:02AM (#59646754) Journal

    Blue Screen Of Death in vapour form.

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