After flying for nearly 22 hours, I am in Delhi dealing with a monster jetlag. Of course, the only thing you can do when you can’t sleep is get on the Internet, and even though my parents’ broadband connection is barely nudging 200 kbps, I am glad to have a connection for my iPad.
It has been amazing to follow the news of Satya Nadella being named Microsoft’s chief executive. I have had an opportunity to get to know Satya over past few years, and it is safe to say that Microsoft has made a smart choice. Satya has a very clear idea of Microsoft’s strengths and challenges. He is not prone to making bombastic statements and often errs on the side of caution in his public speaking.
I believe over the next decade computing will become even more ubiquitous and intelligence will become ambient. The coevolution of software and new hardware form factors will intermediate and digitize — many of the things we do and experience in business, life and our world. This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning– Satya Nadella in his first official memo as CEO
Today, long time Apple observer John Gruber writes the most astute of all posts on Microsoft’s past, present and future. Gruber’s summary of Microsoft is the core thesis of Gigaom’s editorial mission. Most of us make the mistake of looking at the world in vertical silos — devices, mobile, cloud, data and experiences. In the end they are all part of the same “connected” experience, a future where network connection is as important as the hardware and software.
If Microsoft embraces that ideology and let go of being married to just a singular operating environment, the company has a bright future. Nadella is the man to lead that charge. Good Luck Satya!
Additional Links:
* My interview with Satya Nadella.
* A video of my conversation with Satya Nadella at Le Web, 2013.
* A conversation with Emily Chang of Bloomberg West about why Satya is the right choice for the company.
