Microsoft’s latest reorg shifts focus from Windows to Cloud

Microsoft is also working with other partners and vendors like Indian e-tail major Flipkart, Indian online cab aggregator, Ola, for its automated entertainment system Ola Play among others for AI-based solutions including demand forecasting, fraud detection, customer segmentation etc. This group will focus on how people interact with various computing devices, using multiple senses, Microsoft said in a memo. There’s a team now called “Experiences and Devices”. This team will continue to build first-party products and the core building block cloud services for third parties on Azure. Nadella notes his gratitude to Myerson for his 21 years of work and that he will stay on in the short-term during the transition. That doesn’t mean anything, Microsoft insists: “Again, we are in the phase of checking in final code to prepare for the final release”.

Big changes are coming to Redmond.

“One of my favorite things about leading Windows has been the Windows fans”. What isn’t clear is whether CShell and related efforts, such as a rumored “Andromeda” folding tablet, were R&D concepts or actual roadmaps. Additional known users can be added to your groups at any time, without requiring a new submission to change the members of the audience. Hopefully the changes lead to a more coherent Windows strategy going forward. But for certain tweaks, you still have to dive into the more antiquated Control Panel, which simply isn’t as friendly.

Microsoft is hoping it can do with Windows what it did with Office.

The aim is to unify the way the firm is developing products for consumer and business users. Skype, for example, is a mess.

Nadella announced that a variety of executives within those divisions have also been given new job descriptions.

More practically, the shake-up will see Terry Myerson depart and have his Windows and Devices division merged with Office under Rajesh Jha in what will be the “Experiences and Devices” unit. Nadella wants a fresh start, with coherence across all product lines. This nearly certainly ensures the viability of Surface and other Microsoft hardware.

Jha will be supported by Joe Belfiore, who rejoined after a year long break as lead for Windows experiences. It’ll include Microsoft’s mobile offerings, Windows, and its Microsoft 365 productivity suite.

Combined, his departure and the restructuring have been widely characterized as a sign that Microsoft is moving to de-emphasize Windows and PCs as it pivots its business toward faster-growing technologies.

In an effort to dedicate more energy and resources to AI research, Microsoft is undergoing some reorganization.

Software developers write new applications to run on the cloud services, just as they once did for the Windows operating system. Microsoft has continued to make AI a focus, including the recent announcement of Windows ML.

It’s hard to say exactly what the reoganization means for Windows because it’s not clear which parts of the WDG went where.

Microsoft’s Universal Store and Commerce Platform led by Eric Lockard.

Testing an app or game in production before launch is critical to gain confidence in your products’ quality, but most developers have requested they be able to do this testing without having the product visible to anyone beyond the intended audience.

A new team, dubbed AI Perception & Mixed Reality, to be led by Alex Kipman, a Microsoft Technical Fellow and the inventor of the Kinect and HoloLens devices.

Microsoft Build begins May 7.