14 DAY TRIAL // It’s not a secret that Microsoft’s modern transformation forced the company to focus more on the enterprise side of its business, leaving behind consumer-oriented products like Windows 10 Mobile and investing in those that bring home the bacon, like Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams.
Windows itself has been impacted by this migration to the enterprise, despite the operating system as a whole evolving a lot lately thanks to the Windows Insider program.
But now that the world is working from home and everybody relies on their computers for both work and personal stuff, Microsoft rediscovered just how big of a gem Windows actually is. And CEO Satya Nadella explained during the latest earnings call this week that investing heavily in Windows is part of the company’s long-term strategy.
“If anything, again, the last nine months or so have proven that when it comes to Windows and PCs, they become mission-critical because when it comes to remote learning, remote work and any type of activity and productivity, in particular, depends on having PCs and applications on PCs. So, we are doubling down on it,” Nadella said.
“That means, the innovation in Windows, and Microsoft 365 is the best way to conceptualize how we even think about Windows because it’s one surface area where we want to deliver our best payloads for productivity, communications, collaboration, business process.”
The Windows ecosystem
How exactly Microsoft will make Windows bigger than what it is right now is not hard to figure out, and Nadella himself emphasized that the hardware ecosystem will play a key role in the whole thing. In other words, Microsoft will work with its partners to bring Windows to as many devices as possible, while also investing in new form factors.
“We’ll keep working even on the form function innovation as well. So, even if you look at the holiday lineup of devices, it’s great to see that, large screens, small screens, mobile, different chip architectures that make it pretty attractive to have a Windows device with you always. So, that’s how we look at it. It’s very important. I think, if anything, even mobile-only countries and mobile-only scenarios are recognizing that they also can do with some help with additional screens,” he said.
Just like before, Microsoft will continue to pioneer the introduction of new form factors, with the push in the dual-screen market likely to gain more pace in the next few years.