Microsoft Reveals a Stunning New Direction for Windows (Premium)

Those looking for subtext in Microsoft's Build 2017 announcements this week should closely examine the software giant's new Windows strategy. No longer the center of our digital lives, Windows is being repositioned to an ancillary role in which it will make other devices better.

This bold move is both pragmatic and customer-friendly, and it allows Microsoft to focus Windows on its core strengths: Productivity, generally---or what Microsoft these days prefers to call creativity---and the complex workloads that are still impossible or at least difficult to perform on simpler mobile devices.

It also matches what is happening in the real world, where users turn to PCs less often than before, and only do so when they need to get real work done.

This is impressive on a number of levels, but mostly because many former market leaders refuse to see the truth for too long and then only belatedly address the problems that have been destroying it---from outside or from within---and usually to disastrous results. Give Microsoft from credit: It isn't just acknowledging that the world has changed, it is embracing that change. And this will benefit Microsoft as well as its customers.

But even those familiar with the notion of "mobile first, cloud first," may be unclear on how much just changed. After all, Microsoft has always championed its own products on services on rival mobile devices, likewise promoting Windows 10 on PCs and other device types while doing so. But this is different. And it's another step towards that cloud-centric future I keep describing for Microsoft.

But I know there will be pushback, given how painful the transition from Windows phone has been for so many. If some can't accept the reality of that situation, how on earth will they handle a perceived downgrading of the flagship Windows 10 OS?

That I can't help with.

But I've been preaching this mantra for months, maybe years. To put this in perspective, Apple is undergoing a similar transition in which it has to maintain a legacy product line, the Mac, that is still popular and successful, while pushing towards its own devices- and services based future. And let's be fair: Apple is handling this transition much more badly than is Microsoft.

So let's discuss Microsoft's new strategy.

Under the new plan, Microsoft acknowledges that Windows is no longer at the center of our digital lives. Instead, Microsoft believes that its customers will utilize a variety of its apps on devices of all kinds. And that, for most people, only one of those devices, a PC, will be running Windows.

"This is a big shift for Windows," I was told in a Build pre-briefing. Now, the goal for Windows is to make other devices better. You can see this in Fall Creators Update features like Timeline, Pick Up Where You Left Off, Clipboard, and OneDrive Files On Demand. And it is now coincidence that those are the exact four major new Windows 10 features that Microsoft is highlighting toda...

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