bloomberg[.]com/features/2016-satya-nadella-interview-issue/
I think a lot of people feel that some of the stuff Microsoft's doing doesn't make best sense. I don't think this interview sheds a lot of light on that aspect of things, but there was one response from Nadella I found troubling...
But I see three other broad platform shifts. One is what I’ve called conversations as a platform. If we can teach all our computers human language, can we democratize computers even more so than we have done today? Think about it. The model today of, “Well, I’ve got to learn the shell, learn to download 20 apps, and navigate between these apps to get stuff done”—what if none of that was a cognitive load on me, but I was able to simply talk, text, or voice and get my things done?
Using a PC or cell phone or whatever device is pretty simple nowadays. Learning most software & games is pretty simple -- I'm not talking about getting really good at whatever apps/games, but simply being able to use them. In my experience, in developed countries not learning how to do something using whatever device is most often a matter of choice, a lack of interest, or in some cases plain old laziness. There's more than plenty of stuff I don't understand, that I'm clueless about, but with today's internet & the generally helpful attitude of most people, I've most always been able to find out what I needed to know.
And I think most countries recognize that for the good of their country, & everyone living there, people must be encouraged to learn. Microsoft & other tech companies very much have taken this stand, promoting coding classes in elementary grades etc. So what is this about dumbing down the experience from Nadella?
Perhaps there's a bit of arrogance there, feeling that the dumb masses can't learn? Maybe it's about connecting the as yet illiterate masses in not yet developed areas of countries or countries? That 2nd would increase the numbers of people MS connects with, & probably look good to Wall St., but otherwise what good would it really do? Wouldn't it actually remove incentives to become literate? To me it's disturbing in the context of Nadella allegedly being focused on India.
Yeah, talking to computers is cool when you're watching Star Trek, but then in that time & universe people are universally accustomed to & experienced with much higher levels of tech -- illiteracy is almost unthought of.
Language capabilities are cool when you're on the go using a cell phone, & entering text is a chore. Language capabilities like Microsoft is adding to Outlook can be convenient, letting you skip steps in a number of tasks, e.g. putting info from an email on your calendar. Voice commands have been with us since the 90s, & with PCs, laptops & such, remain a niche -- it's just not that practical, though talking to a non-PC may work, as Amazon is trying to show with their devices to stream music, order goods etc.
Then Nadella got down to marketing, or perhaps fibbing if you think there's a difference.
"The second thing is how small and medium-size businesses that never even had PCs, never had any servers for sure, are able to go digital. The cloud is perhaps one of the most defining democratizers because it makes it possible—through its business model and by lowering the friction—for any small business to enter the world of digital without the costs."
And that's just pure PR, with some sales thrown in -- remember MS is removing features from Windows 10 Pro to *nudge* biz into adopting their more expensive Enterprise versions.
If you sell a product or products sales are going to go up & down. If you do your job well you'll have high sales & make money -- if you do poorly you won't, & may fold after going broke. If MS rents their products & services they'll have a steady stream of income, whether they do good or bad designing & implementing one or more of those products & services -- no more low sales figures as with Vista & Windows 8.
So it's understandable that MS wants biz to rent space & services in the cloud, rather than have everything running on their own hardware. Costs can be higher or lower over time -- same with the initial costs, depending on what you want & need. Making it possible for any small biz without the costs? BS. Lowest cost is using a couple few PCs, which is what Microsoft is trying to discourage.