The 2016 BUILD conference will highlight Microsoft’s shift to a cloud first company, even if that strategy comes at the expense of mobile and Windows.
Microsoft has been pushing its cloud first, mobile first strategy for some time, but increasingly the company is looking to ditch the second part of the equation and become a purely cloud first entity.
The reason why Redmond may be steering away from the “mobile first” part of the strategy is simply because the Windows mobile platform is failing.
It has a one per cent market share, and while the idea of a Universal Windows App Platform is compelling, with no people buying Windows hardware, it could be an exercise in futility.
However, Microsoft’s strategy is also moving beyond mobile and even beyond Windows as a whole, and the company is expected to be touting itself as a cloud first, Windows next provider.
The upcoming BUILD Developers Conference should prove to be the confirmation on this matter, where Microsoft will really delve deep into its bag of new tricks, and many of them will be oriented towards the cloud. This will especially be the case in the enterprise arena, where the future of the company has a major force probably lies thanks to dwindling PC sales in the consumer market.
Room for Windows
Microsoft slightly realigning itself towards the cloud is one thing, but the company is not about to abandon Windows altogether, and Mobile is still very much on the radar. Redmond continues to embrace its new found love of other platforms and now has numerous services on both iOS and Android, with plenty money spinning potential in the mobile space.
Windows 10 is the centerpiece of Microsoft’s aspirations away from the cloud (and indeed on it), whether that be for Xbox, mobile, or PC. It seems almost baiting to say that the company is pushing the platform to the sidelines in favor of the cloud, and of course the situation is more nuanced than that.
BUILD for instance will explore further the features we can expect from Redstone, the two phase update for Windows 10 that is promising enough new goodies that it could feel like a fresh OS.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Microsoft’s immediate future is how the company will juggle all of its divisions, and indeed how it will integrate them all into one ecosystem. If reports of a shift in strategy are true, the cloud could provide the platform the company needs to give users an all-encompassing experience.
SOURCE: ZDNET
Don’t be ridiculous. MS won’t ditch windows even as mobile is trying to find it’s footing. Why ? Firstly because of the very nature of windows 10. If you would realised that it is already cloud heavy, therefore it fits right into any MS strategy. Secondly, Windows 10 is a universal OS with auto scaling and universal apps for ALL devices. It is the same os (basically) no matter the screen size. Which thirdly, MS has windows in near 90 percent of PCs World Wide. MS can play the long game.
MS has always been a powerful company, that has been caught in a few occasions strong arming the competition. If you remember Netscape, it was a much better browser than Internet Explorer, yet Netscape never made it. If you remember many other forms of software that were competing with MS , that found themselves in problems out of the blue. Just ask Corel. I bought a PC once with Word Perfect 12 on it and I remember having a better experience with it than on MS Word. But what ever happen to Word Perfect. Why was it no longer installed on PCs anymore????
Trust me MS is not worried, what they are doing just now is shaping the market to thier own will.
People wondered why would Microsoft place a better experience of their services on iOS and and Android . That’s very easy, the idea is to pull people away from Google services, as they are actually better over all than google services.
MS OneNote has no true rival. MS Maps takes the best of Bing maps and NOKIA/Here maps and drive, and you tend to get a better experience than with google maps. A more useful experience.
So while you are not accurately speculating, you should first look at the very nature of MS, and their track record.
MS is in the midst of it’s long game, things may drastically change.