It's worrying for MS that for all the major divisions shown in that image, I've never once thought of or used them in relation to each other. MS has no unifying experience to build on in consumer consciousness.
Cross-quadrant dynamic synergies where the rubber meets the road and pivots, off the top of my head:
- IE (technically part of the Windows division) and Xbox tie in with Bing (in Win 8.1, Windows itself searches Bing and builds OS-native search results pages that aggregate Bing results with results from the local machine).
- As Live Messenger, Lync, and Skype converge, Office should have good integration with whatever eventual amalgamation emerges since it already does so with Lync.
- Office and Bing. "Search with Bing" is right in the context menu for selected text throughout Office apps.
- SQL Server and SharePoint aren't depicted in the image, but Office has great built-in support for working against SQL Server data and SharePoint lists seamlessly.
- I don't know the official word about Azure, but I would be shocked if at least portions of services like Xbox Live and Office 365 aren't using the Azure infrastructure (if it's good enough for iCloud...).
- Skype and Windows have a bit of affinity in Win 8.1 too. The Skype app can raise a call notification even when the computer is locked and you can answer Skype calls directly from the Windows 8.1 lock screen.
- A killer, overarching connection between groups is the newish Microsoft Accounts. When you log into a Windows 8+ machine with your MS Account, settings for a lot of apps are synced automatically. Even the progress I've made on Angry Birds is automatically synced between my desktops, laptops, and tablets. I'm not sure exactly which quadrants that connects (all?), but it's a great example of MS divisions working well together.
Integration is only integration if it adds value. No wonder Microsoft is dieing if this is the kind of thing they are wasting time on instead of useful features. Who would ever want to search with Bing from their xbox?!
The awful Microsoft Accounts just gives consumers one new and popular question to ask: how do I turn off Microsoft Accounts? That's literally the most asked question in regards to that piece of terrible functionality.
Come on anybody at Microsoft reading this, get rid of people like this and focus on giving consumers something they actually want. You might be able to turn this around if you act quickly.
> The awful Microsoft Accounts just gives consumers one new and popular question to ask: how do I turn off Microsoft Accounts? That's literally the most asked question in regards to that piece of terrible functionality.
Needs citation. The only response I've seen from real people is roughly "Wow, cool!" when the see their lock screen picture and wallpaper sync automatically to a new machine when they log in for the first time.
> get rid of people like this
In case it wasn't clear to you, I don't work for Microsoft and haven't ever.