In last few years we have noticed that Microsoft has changed a lot under ‘Satya Nadella’. They have changed their business model from a Windows based company to a cross platform, open source and cloud first company. I have tried to summarize some important Microsoft changes in my opinion.

Windows and Office become saas

Microsoft still is a Windows and office-based company. But they have changed the business model. Windows 10 is the last version of Windows. No, Windows is not dead, but it is slowly becoming ‘software as a service’ (saas) model. In future Windows may become subscription-based service. Currently they push cumulative and security updates in every month and two big feature updates in a year.

Office package also become saas based with the name of ‘Office 365’. It now yearly or monthly subscription-based. There is also non-subscription-based Office, but they will be deprecated in near future as more and more users are going for Office 365 because they can get more facilities in it over non-subscription-based Office.

For business Microsoft has introduced a new model called ‘Microsoft 365’ combining Windows, Office, security and mobility.

Cloud first approach

The cloud computing service provided by Microsoft called ‘Azure’. It is the second big cloud platform after AWS. Not only Microsoft technologies but also non-Microsoft technologies supported by Azure. Windows and Linux VMs are available for hosting and Microsoft .NET, Java, Node.js and many more software development platforms are supported in Azure. Currently Azure is giving the highest revenue to Microsoft.

Open source and cross platform

Microsoft products and services are becoming cross platform. You can get most them Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc in all the platforms like Windows, Android and iOS.

There is a new application development framework called ‘Microsoft .NET Core’ which is available for Windows, Linux and Mac and it is open source as well. Visual Studio also become available in Mac. ‘Visual Studio Code’ is a new open source editor which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Microsoft is targeting Mac and Linux users now. If you are using Node.js still you can use Visual Studio Code in your Mac and host in a Linux server in Azure. There is a Linux subsystem in Windows 10 so that developers can use Linux commands while working in Windows.

Microsoft recently bought GitHub and they have the highest number of open source projects in GitHub in current date. These things are the clear proof of the recent change of approach towards open source and cross platform products and services.

Surface

Microsoft is mainly a software company, but they are trying to learn from the Apple’s success of hardware like Mac and creating new Windows PC line-up called ‘Surface’.

• Surface Go: low powered affordable device.
• Surface Laptop: style and speed.
• Surface Pro: ultra-light and versatile.
• Surface Book: powerhouse performance.
• Surface Studio: powerhouse desktop
• Surface Hub: meeting room hub for business

Surface devices are targeting creators who use Mac.

Summery

Microsoft has done a good job in recent years by changing its approach to survive in the market mainly after a failed attempt in mobile platform. They are getting success in terms of quarterly result and increasing stock prizes. Satya Nadella is a new CEO and it is a new Microsoft.