Too Many Intelligent Edges (Premium)

These days, Microsoft is like the Oprah of intelligent edge. That is, virtually any device can be considered part of this nebulous non-platform.

As in, “You’re an intelligent edge! YOU’RE an intelligent edge. YOU’RE an intelligent edge too!!” Or whatever. I don’t watch Oprah.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to get excited about Microsoft’s intelligent cloud, intelligent edge strategy. And as someone focused on personal technology for almost 25 years now, it should come as no surprise that the “intelligent edge” half of that terrible tagline is the more interesting to me.

But what is an intelligent edge device?

The definition is simple enough. From Microsoft’s perspective, an intelligent edge device is any device that has enough smarts to handle AI independently of the cloud. These devices can utilize cloud-based AI, and often/usually will. But they can perform AI on their own. They are the intelligent edge.

After that, things get complicated. Because virtually any smart device, and there are probably more of them than you realize, can be considered the intelligent edge.

At the lowest end of the scale, we have the Azure Sphere microcontroller platform, which encompasses hardware, software, and security services. This Internet of Things (IoT) platform runs on a version of Linux, not Windows, which makes it somewhat unique in the Microsoft ecosystem, at least for now.

But Microsoft has other, “bigger” IoT platforms that do run on Windows, and they are also considered intelligent edge devices. Windows IoT Core, Windows IoT Enterprise, and a new offering called Windows IoT Services—essentially Windows IoT Core with 10 years of support—are all “optimized to power intelligent edge devices,” Microsoft says.

But phones, tablets, PCs of all kinds, even Surface Hubs are also intelligent edge devices. And in many ways, they are the most sophisticated. In fact, when most people consider the notion of “on-device AI,” if they ever do, they will most likely think of their smartphones, with their built-in assistants. Or perhaps they will think of smart speakers, which, yes, are intelligent edge devices too.

They’re all intelligent edge devices, it seems.

Microsoft says that the intelligent edge is a “new frontier of computing.”. And that is a surprisingly adept turn of phrase, as it turns out. Like the new frontier of the American West in the 1800’s, the intelligent edge is nebulous and undefined. It is full of hope, and promise, and could be anything that its earliest pioneers wish. It is also scary and unknown, and it is full of any number of dead-ends.

And on that note, I’m not clear what the real plan is here. During a recent Computex pre-briefing, Microsoft commingled such unrelated platforms as Azure Sphere, Windows Collaboration Displays, Windows 10 IoT, and PCs from a variety of partners (including gaming PCs) as all being part of the intelligent edge. These things have almost nothing in common with each other (though Windows Collaboration Displays appear to run a normal version of Windows 10, like PCs).

The ties that bind, so to speak, are in the cloud that I care so little about: Microsoft positions its Microsoft Graph at the center of its intelligent cloud experience, which does make some sense. But then it tries to position AI, ubiquitous computing, and Microsoft 365 as some sort of cohesive strategy in which its partners can “build multi-device, multi-sense experiences.” Now we’re in the weeds again.

It used to be so simple. Windows was the software that ran on the client. And Windows Server ran in the data center, until that was mostly replaced by the cloud and Azure.

Now, both sides of the equation are quite messy, and quite voluminous. Azure has what appears to be thousands of individual services on offer, and with the new Microsoft, competing services are obviously welcome as well. The client, too, what we’re now calling the intelligent edge, has grown past the point of being able to even understand it.

The target audience has grown, too. It’s no longer just users and businesses, which are really just managed groups of users (and services, etc.) Now Microsoft and its partners create specialized devices, like HoloLens, that make no sense generally but instead solve niche/vertical market needs. It’s going after heavyweights like healthcare, manufacturing, and retail, and even more nebulous markets like smart cities and transportation. These things make the enterprise look like a weekend lemonade stand.

Obviously, not all of this will work. Indeed, the whole thing may simply collapse under its own weight, or thanks to the indifference of developers and customers. I’d hate to see the convoluted nature of this thing turn off potential users. But it is getting a bit hairy.

For people like you and me, technology enthusiasts of a Microsoft bent, this transition has been difficult, obviously. My editorials this year read like an ongoing series of self-help grief counseling meetings. And while that’s not by design, for sure, I feel like it’s at least semi-healthy to work through this.

I started down my current professional path, such as it is, in the mid-1990’s when Microsoft ruled the personal computing world. I went with Microsoft somewhat begrudgingly, as I had no respect at all for the company and its products. But mid-1990’s releases like Office 6.0 and especially Windows 95 slowly turned me around. Turned disinterest into enthusiasm. Into respect.

There were low moments, for sure.

The behavior that landed Microsoft in antitrust trials around the world broke my heart. I didn’t understand how a company could be that terrible. Longhorn was a nightmare disaster that ruined everything. Windows 8 was like getting punched in the face. And Windows phone was a bucket of missed opportunity at a time when Microsoft really needed a win.

Today, I have nothing but respect for Microsoft as a company. It’s a different place, with a different vibe and a different ethical bent. But in trying to make sense of what it’s doing on the client—sorry, on the intelligent edge—I feel like the goalposts keep moving. Every week, almost, Microsoft seems to throw another thing up on the wall, as if asking whether this one, finally will stick.

I hope they figure it out. Hell, I hope we can all figure it out.