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Comment by jccooper | Hacker News Reader

I think the important thing is what's missing: "software".

Apparently, Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, is no longer interested in software.

I wouldn't call this a great idea, considering "core competencies" and how well their products in the "devices and services" divisions are faring, but it is, at least, forward-looking.

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Microsoft has always wanted to become its competitors. The reference to devices sounds to me like they would rather be Apple or Sony. Services probably signifies their wish to be Amazon or some other company that makes its entire living on the internet. Just because there is no real competition in the PC OS and productivity software markets doesn't mean there's nothing there worth hanging on to. They don't sound very interested in the industry they created and still dominate. Whoever they would rather be, there's a good chance their fate is tied up with software, for better or worse, so it benefits them nothing to prematurely write it off for dead. Expending so much energy in coveting what Apple and Google have leads to missteps like Metro.

I think there's a universal shift from 'software' to 'services.'

Microsoft doesn't want to sell you Word: they want to sell you the best method of composition. Microsoft doesn't want to sell you Powerpoint: they want to sell you the ability to make the best presentations. And so on.

I don't think they care about that. The reason they're shifting is that they don't want to sell you Word once, then fail to persuade you to upgrade to the next version; they want to sell it over and over which brings a more stable and guaranteed revenue stream.

Definitely. "Service" implies something you pay for on a monthly basis. "Software" implies something that comes in a box with a CD key.

My software does not come in a box, nor have keys.

Interesting. More specifically, the company built on shrinkwrap and preloads is facing a world where neither is generally accepted.

This leaves business and government markets, as well as gaming, and possibly services / online platforms with advertising-based revenue.

Meantime, Microsoft still have to support their legacy. Even some of the EOL products, which, despite best efforts, still live in places which have the power to command fixes.

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