Microsoft fleshed out the meaning of its "cloud first, mobile first" mantra Wednesday, a slogan it's adopted to illustrate what it calls a singular family of products tied to the impending Windows 10 OS.
The software company, which clearly now wants to be a services and hardware player, is focused on delivering what its community wants, yet some analysts aren't too convinced it has changed its tech stripes and may still be focused on itself more than users, partners and developers.
After a two-hour presentation of apps, devices and hardware, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stage during its conference event and made a passionate, yet simple statement during his 10-minute closing, calling all the Windows 10 innovations an "incredible moment."
"Today is a big day, a big day for Windows, a big day for what it means for our customers and our partners and it is all about Windows and our innovations, the new categories, new experiences and most of all new opportunities," Nadella told the crowd.
The goal, he says, is to make people go from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows.
The "Microsoft mission is centered around empowering every individual and organization on the planet to be able to do more and achieve more and we're going after that mission by focusing on things that we, as a company, can uniquely do and contribute and by being the platform and productivity company in a mobile-first, mobile cloud-first world," said Nadella.
But Microsoft will have to do more than produce an innovative new OS as its users are needing and loving Windows less and less, says Adam Hartung, Forbes' and CIO leadership columnist. Tech Times caught up with Hartung for his initial impressions shortly after the event.
While Microsoft has taken steps to offer more of its services on platforms besides its own, Hartung says it isn't branching out far enough. Microsoft has challenges ahead in trying to hold onto consumers who are slipping away.
"It's 'we're the center of the world and we're trying to grab you and keep you -- we're going to keep you by extending your our old experience'," Hartung told Tech Times. "[This comes] in a world in which, after so many years of mobility, people have already left, even if they still have a desktop and laptops."
While Hartung admits he's not too enthused about many of the new products and features Microsoft boasted about at the latest Windows 10 event, he believes the Xbox app and Cortana's personal assistant capabilities are definite bright spots and, if used properly, could be a boon for Redmond.
While he acknowledges Microsoft may be staying at the front of the curve with its developer-friendly Xbox One and Windows compatibility, he views Cortana as being buried inside Microsoft's ecosystem.
Wednesday's event revealed Microsoft is open to showing much of its innovative hand as it also made it clear that it still has a few more surprises up its sleeves.
