Restart: Microsoft in the age of Satya Nadella
wired.com
wired.com
The open sourcing of .NET is the real news and as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on what that actually means for the world. Don't know about you, but I'll be sticking with JVM langs until I see a CLR for OSX on MS's download page.
Another thing that Nadella is doing is pushing new technologies and ideas which is not usually seen from MS. As the article mentions, MS was usually playing catch up or me too. These are promising changes, but still, because MS has been a fierce competitor who pretty much screwed over a lot of their partners and other companies that they've done business with, they became one of the most feared companies in the tech field. I'm left with the sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe one of the reasons for that is the way MS pushed Windows 8 and their tablets. I've seen the corporate speak and boosterism that their people have been spouting when it first came out. Although it was still under Ballmer's reign, they are recent enough to make me wonder how quickly MS people can change under Nadella. Or if they'll even change. Nadella needs to make a huge impression to both the public as well as to MS employees if he's going to really change the culture and business practices of MS. In summary, Nadella seems to be the best person to do this job.
Steve Ballmer hurt Microsoft in many insidious ways that may not be visible in the numbers - but hurt Microsoft he did. I once had the opportunity or misfortune to hear him speak about the cloud (~2011) and it was clear to everyone there that he had no-firckin idea what he was mouthing about - it was cringe-worthy. He was the epitome of Hubris & Cluelessness.
Satya seems to be making the right moves embracing open source, making MS office for tablets, Windows 10 for free upgrades, Substantial investments in Azure, A new Device focus - I heard the Microsoft Band team were given a Blank slate and told to go nuts (mostly).
There seem to be a number of other interesting things brewing...
Let's not get carried away. You can't say "Embracing" when only very few of their products or libraries are actually Open. They are still a business massively based on DRMs and Proprietary Software and Technologies.
Is it just me who has seen loads on the updates to Google Translate but never heard about this?
If not, then that suggests that shifting media perception about Microsoft will be critical, and isn't there yet (this piece will help). Only when the media (bloggers and mainstream) filter Microsoft announcements through a context of 'they do innovative exciting things' will product and feature releases garner the publicity Microsoft needs to change the broader public perception.
Microsoft:
> "You could be one of the first to experience Skype Translator. All you need to do is sign up to be a preview user and we will keep you posted on what comes next."
http://www.skype.com/en/translator-preview/
Google:
> "What's New in Version 3.1.0 • Word Lens: Just point your camera to a sign or text and the Translate app will instantly translate the text, even without Internet/data connection. • Automatic language detection in speech/conversation mode - start translating with speech input and Translate will recognize which of the two languages is being spoken, allowing you to have a more fluid conversation with another person."
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-translate/id414706506...
No bonus points for "one day" - keeping over promising and under delivering and nothing will change.
I get the impression that, as a society, you want to be open but in the industry, you want to be closed/highly secretive and in personal life, privacy is preferred. (i.e. not open/sharing all aspects). This appears contradicting each other and it suggests that, guiding principle is not openness/freedom itself but selecting profitable/suitable style and spreading forcibly across the globe.
Many countries/cultures cannot really comprehend these sharp edges/changes and this partly explains the tensions/conflicts in the world.
In contrast, in a place like North Korea, there isn't quite the same level of choice. Censorship prohibits me from saying certain things and surveillance makes it difficult to hide other things, regardless of whether I want to or not.
That said, you could certainly argue (and many have argued) that a company placing onerous restrictions on what its employees can say or do is contrary to the principles of an open society, the implication being that the power dynamics in a employment relationship make restrictions on employees less than voluntary.
>it’s the first major test of whether Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, can restore the company’s long-dormant reputation for innovation and creativity.
Although I do agree Microsoft is going a much better direction than with balmer.
New vision: Two paid subscriptions (O365 + Win10), accessed from every desk and every home...and (unfortunately) 1 of every 10M phones
On the strength of today Nadella hasn't reined in the Windows group anything like enough. Clearly too much of the same management as presided over Windows 8 remains. They would have been better off producing Windows 7.5 than this. A good start would be to accept that the Live Tiles might have been a nice design project, but have completely failed in the wild. The same goes for the ludicrous swipe on sidebars.
So I'm calling it now: Windows 10 is another turkey. Not as bad as 8, but Windows 7 has got a new lease of life.
This is a shame because the world could do with Windows 10 actually being good, and Azure and the Microsoft services are close to best in class (Office 365 has stopped Google in it's tracks) but today they demonstrated they still have that inability to score from an open goal.
Talking specifically about live tiles: I love that I am able to hit the Super/Windows key and immediately see an overview of all of the information I care about. This includes notes, emails, weather, calender and stocks. I don't see how it failed at all-- it's wonderful.
I think this "Windows 8 sucks" meme should die in a fire, because it's grossly inaccurate at best. And this is coming from someone who primarily uses an OS X-inspired GNU/Linux distro (Elementary OS) as a daily operating system.
MS's version just ropes you into the MS App Store ecosystem. Found anything you want to download there recently?
I may be a linux user, but that's only because windows sucks so bad. Lots of people will tell me that it's really my fault that windows is behaving badly on my machine. But when I explain to them that I don't have the same problems using linux on the very same machine as windows, they can understand my point.
(yes I know MS is looking at container support for Windows, but the fact that there has been no information or technical details is troubling)
Then just use docker to run your code on EITHER windows or linux.