View all notes
Available query params: commented=1, untagged=1
Even though I am ambivalent about questions from outsiders about how the culture change is going, it’s easy to see there is a tangible shift happening inside Microsoft. If you want to understand the culture inside a software company, show up at a meeting that includes engineers from different parts of the company. These are very smart people who are passionate about building great products. But are they plugged into what customers need and want? Do they include diverse opinions and capabilities when writing code? And do they act like they’re on the same team, even if they work in different groups? Answers to questions like these serve as a great barometer for the culture we need. Demonstrating a growth mindset. Customer-centric. Diverse and inclusive. One company.
my god
On launch day, Apple’s Senior Vice President for Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, teased the audience as he set up the next demo at the iPad Pro launch. “We’ve been lucky to have some developers come in to work with us on professional productivity. Who knows productivity more than Microsoft?”
Nervous laughter filled the room.
“Yeah, these guys know productivity.”
lost for words.
(he circled the last line with the annotation, Yeah, we do)
In today’s era of digital transformation, every organization and every industry are potential partners. Consider the taxi and entertainment industries. Ninety percent of Uber riders wait less than ten minutes for a driver, compared with 37 percent of taxi riders. Netflix costs its viewers $0.21 per hour of entertainment compared with $1.61 per hour with the old Blockbuster video-rental model. These are some of the higher visibility examples of digital transformation, but it’s happening in every industry. We estimate the value of these transformations over the coming decade to be about $2 trillion.
great
Our emphasis on strategic partnerships isn’t really new. It’s actually another example of how we have been rediscovering the soul of Microsoft. When I look at our founders, Paul Allen clearly saw the power of new computers and Bill Gates saw the power of software. Together they were able to create magic and, more importantly, democratize computing. I sometimes wonder: If Bill and Paul had not succeeded with Microsoft, what would the world look like? Would we have independent hardware manufacturers, independent software vendors, system integrators, and others? Our original business model was built on an ecosystem of partners—independent software developers like Adobe and Autodesk, video game makers like EA Sports, hardware manufacturers like Dell, HP, and Lenovo, and retailers like Best Buy. I don’t think Google would have existed but for the PC browser. Microsoft enabled Google to build a toolbar for our Internet Explorer, making Google services more visible and accessible. As a result of these and other partnerships, Microsoft and the PC helped nurture a host of billion-dollar companies—and Microsoft attracted millions of additional customers in the process.
has it been democratized???? or is it just widespread? these are different concepts
These experiences have taught us a lot and refreshed our partnering spirit. Microsoft already has the largest ecosystem of partners in the world. Hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide build and sell solutions that support our products and services. In addition, millions of customers in every sector have built their businesses and organizations using Microsoft technologies. My ultimate goal is to be the biggest platform provider underneath all of this entrepreneurial energy, with an unrelenting focus on creating economic opportunity for others.
vasu talked exactly like this lol
To avoid being trapped by the innovator’s dilemma—and to move from always focusing on the urgency of today to considering the important things for tomorrow—we decided to look at our investment strategy across three growth horizons: first, grow today’s core businesses and technologies; second, incubate new ideas and products for the future; and third, invest in long-term breakthroughs. On horizon one, our customers and partners will continue to see quarter-by-quarter, year-by-year innovations in all of our businesses. On horizon two, we’re already investing in some exciting nearer-term platform shifts, such as new user interfaces with speech or digital ink, new applications with personal assistants and bots, and Internet of Things experiences for everything from factories to cars to home appliances. On horizon three, Microsoft is highly focused in areas that only a few years ago sounded distant, but today are frontiers of innovation—mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Mixed reality will become an essential tool in medicine, education, and manufacturing. AI will help forecast crises like the Zika epidemic and help us focus our time and attention on things that matter most. Quantum computing will give us the computational power to cure cancer and effectively address global warming.
is that what people thought AI would do? lol
His quest, however, was to find a place where he could design software for the sake of software, a place that treated software as an art form. He came to Microsoft where he would play a role in designing Windows Vista, the long-awaited successor to Windows XP. When Vista received lukewarm reviews despite its advanced features, no one was more disappointed than Alex. He took it personally and returned to Brazil to reflect—to hit refresh on his own career outlook. Alex is very philosophical and turned to Nietzsche for direction: “He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear almost any ‘how.’” Alex was upset with himself because he did not yet have his “why,” a point of view about where computing should be headed.
no. stop
But excessive inequality has the perverse effect of reducing incentives for many people. What happens when people work more and yet make less money? It is discouraging, leading many people to slacken their efforts, abandon dreams of launching or expanding businesses, and perhaps to leave the workforce altogether. It also weakens overall economic activity. For businesses like mine, it means our global customers have less to spend on emerging technologies that could make them more productive. That is what’s happening today. There is a sagging line below Gini’s perfect 45-degree angle that represents growing inequality. I want to avoid the pitfalls of what Marx described as late-stage capitalism—a theoretical time when economic growth and profits collapse—and get back to the returns enjoyed in early stage capitalism. But how? That’s the question most heads of state around the world are also grappling with.
stoppppppp
One of the reasons I was so excited about our acquisition of LinkedIn—the talent and employment-oriented social networking service—was a shared commitment we discovered early in our negotiations. In conversations with LinkedIn’s founder, Reid Hoffman, and its CEO, Jeff Weiner, I discovered we had a common desire to use our digital platforms to spread opportunity more equitably to everyone. In fact, The New Yorker magazine has written about LinkedIn’s vision of making labor markets work better for all 3 billion members of the global workforce by making those markets more efficient and open.
lol
John Batelle, Wired’s co–founding editor, once wrote that “Business is humanity’s most resilient, iterative, and productive mechanism for creating change in the world.” He is right—and we business leaders need to take seriously our responsibilities as change leaders. I don’t say this for purposes of so-called corporate social responsibility, which is important but can also serve as little more than good PR. I say it because a better world is better for business. It’s important to be dedicated to creating great products, serving customers, and earning profits for our investors—but it’s not sufficient. We also need to think about the impact of our actions on the world and its citizens long into the future.
fuckin wired