Back into the Light

I've just returned from a week in the US attending our annual global Microsoft briefing. It's always a great event but this year was extra special. This is of course the first year the BillG has not been directly involved. While a little sad, what this means is that the new thought leaders within Microsoft can step out in their own right.

Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie, head of R&D and Chief Software Architect respectively, really put their stamp on the future direction of Microsoft for the 12,000 people at the event.

Microsoft offers choice across the platform while our competitors are about locking customers in. Choice in device type, choice in hardware manufacturer, choice in hosted or on-premise deployment or combination, choice to work direct or through partner...no one has the breadth of offerings we do from the device to the data centre, consumer to enterprise.

All with a uniform programing model and a consistent partnering and commercial model.

There is a feeling in the industry that Microsoft has lost ground against our competitors and there was some acknowledgment that we've been taking a few punches recently without coming out and fighting back.

That's about to change.

The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) will open on October 27th this year. This will, in my mind, be a watershed event for Microsoft. We will be unveiling our cloud services strategy and making some very big announcements - moving back into the light.