Microsoft: What went right under Satya Nadella?
The company has undergone the same stages of evolution experienced by many successful tech names. The nimble start-up with a new idea The fast-growing one-to-watch that's changing the world, slaying the old guard in its path The omniprescence we can't live without The uncomfortably big monopoly that buys out or subdues its smaller rivals The Evil Empire that has too much power, and knows too much The unwieldy supertanker that can't change course fast enough to catch the next big wave "Some of those waves we've missed, but we're nothing if not persistent," Steve Clayton tells me. He's Microsoft's chief storyteller - and before I get too sniffy about his job title, I have to remember that's technically my job too on Click. Part of the reason Mr Nadella was picked for the top job was his determination not to miss the next big wave - cloud computing. The Seventh Stage "[Cloud is] the ability for us to have software anywhere on any device," says Mr Clayton. Forget the company's ill-founded attempt to have its own brand of smartphones - the more devices on which it can run its now subscription-based Office suite, the more money it makes. |