Microsoft Is 'Demoting' Windows for the Cloud, Says CNN (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader quotes CNN: Microsoft is giving Windows a demotion, and leaning into the cloud. CEO Satya Nadella told employees on Thursday that Terry Myerson, leader of the Windows and Devices Group, is leaving the company. "Microsoft has been my work, my team, and my purpose for 21 years," Myerson wrote in a LinkedIn blog post. "It is an emotional day"... The shakeup includes the formation of two new engineering teams that will prioritize Microsoft's cloud and artificial intelligence products -- a move that should make investors happy, said Brad Reback, a software analyst at Stifel. Morgan Stanley said recently that Microsoft could hit $1 trillion in market value within a year, thanks in large part to the strengths of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service, and the cloud-based Office 365 software suite... Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said in January that the company's commercial cloud revenue grew 56% year-over-year. In that quarter, Windows commercial products and cloud services sales fell 4%.

Comments

And that was the end of Windows

[pablo_max]

Seriously, how freaking stupid can companies be to think that the "cloud" is the answer? I genuinely don't get it.
Do all of these companies think that everyone has fiber to the house with 1gb/s upload speed?
Do they not understand that most home connections have between 5 and 10mb upload speed and that they data caps? How the fuck should a cloud based system work under such conditions? I assume this would be a comcast wetdream. Think of the overage charges!
Now that NN is dead, they can say.... oh... we see you are using a cloud system.. yeah, you need to pay extra if you want more than 1.5mb/s.

Even here in Europe, where the internet has massively cheaper than what you pay in the states, I still have only a 400mb DL and 20mb UL. Faster isnt even available where I live.
It feels like am waiting forever to put a large file on my onedrive. I usually never use because it is so slow. If the file is like 7 or 8 GB, I would use my works wesendit account and just email myself the DL link to DL from my offsite machine. That is WAY faster than onedrive.

Re:And that was the end of Windows

[Billly Gates]

Seriously, how freaking stupid can companies be to think that the "cloud" is the answer? I genuinely don't get it.
Do all of these companies think that everyone has fiber to the house with 1gb/s upload speed?
Do they not understand that most home connections have between 5 and 10mb upload speed and that they data caps? How the fuck should a cloud based system work under such conditions? I assume this would be a comcast wetdream. Think of the overage charges!
Now that NN is dead, they can say.... oh... we see you are using a cloud system.. yeah, you need to pay extra if you want more than 1.5mb/s.

Even here in Europe, where the internet has massively cheaper than what you pay in the states, I still have only a 400mb DL and 20mb UL. Faster isnt even available where I live.
It feels like am waiting forever to put a large file on my onedrive. I usually never use because it is so slow. If the file is like 7 or 8 GB, I would use my works wesendit account and just email myself the DL link to DL from my offsite machine. That is WAY faster than onedrive.

First off there are several benefits.
1. Tax code gives huge incentives and returns on leasing vs buying
2. Quarterly spending/revenue ratios that the idiots at Wall Street. A bump in spending a software upgrade DEVALUES a stock brutally! The computer program flags the stock as a company dying and assumes its sales must be down?! So to pay more over time without bumps keeps the stock price higher and consistent . This is why humans not trading algorithms should value stocks. So the company spends more to look like it's saving money each quarter.
3. They can lay off and fire alot of their IT infrastructure team to cut costs. Exchange and SharePoint admins? Nope MS takes care of this etc.
4. It gives smaller companies access to Exchange Online and Sharepoint Online which previously only the big boys with servers and an IT could set up and manage
5. The cloud versions of Office also have LOTs of features such as Dynamics, Planner, Flow, MS Teams, PBX support, mobile device management
6. The customer is a lumber, marketing, grocer, hospital, or whatever company ... not an I.T. company. Outsourcing gives a comparative advantage in that MS can run their IT better than they can and they can focus on whichever products or services they use as that is their specialty.
7. It is cheaper for companies that are not bigger to use the add ons for Office 365 or Amazon than to pay project manager and consultant and then support staff. Especially if they are clueless in managing I.T. ... see #6

I am not saying it is better in every scenario. But for a business these 7 things make sense. For Microsoft it makes sense for revenue as people do not upgrade computers every 3 to 5 years anymore and want latest software. Windows XP scared them and was alive for waaay to long. 1998 is over.

Re: What does this mean?

[javaman235]

Cloud in most cases is all a huge bet against basic ideas of CS, like caches. The correct model keeps power close to the user, it's edge tech with cloud augmentation. The autistic control freak model requires approval from Microsoft for every thing you do, it's the cloud. I think there's huge money at this point in going the opposite way, and giving companies control over their data and actions instead of trying to remote control.