The Microsoft Renaissance

So with just over three weeks to go until the release of Windows 10 and I have been putting a lot of time into using the newest builds of Windows 10 and Windows Mobile 10 pre-release. I have also been reviewing presentations from Ignite that I didn’t get to attend but were interested in the content. So I’ve just been soaking in the Microsoft roadmap and considering how tech is changing the world. I mean, I’m sitting here outside, by a pool using a wireless internet connection, an 8 inch Windows 8.1 tablet and wireless keyboard to write this. I have a “2nd screen” in the guise of a 6 inch Lumia 1520 next to me streaming some Pandora radio and I start to get hit by it all. We are in a computing Renaissance. And I ask, did those in the historical Renaissance know they were in it when it was happening? Do we? I mean these are some amazing freaking times.

Dictionary.com offers this definition of Renaissance:

1. the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.

2. the forms and treatments in art used during this period.

3. (sometimes lowercase) any similar revival in the world of art and learning.

4. (lowercase) a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival:

I’m an old guy now, got seven grandkids. I’ve worked in tech since 93′, not as long as some but there are “kids” working for me that weren’t born yet! All of it has been incredible but these last 5 years has reached a whole other level. I’ve come to appreciate the term Disruptive. The rate and depth of change has never before been seen. Ever. In History. Ever! The very nature of communication has changed. This is Gutenberg’s printing press on steroids and I believe a Renaissance in every way.

Now lets get some acknowledgements out of the way. Apple and Google very much lead the way and pioneered a lot of what we are now experiencing in terms of the user interface, mobility and cloud functionality. But this is a blog about Microsoft and what I see coming out of Redmond has me plenty excited.

First and foremost, Microsoft is all in on Cloud and Mobile, Devices and Services. From what I see, this is more than the corporate line. I could see that in 5 years, businesses wont be using a Microsoft product that isn’t tied to if not directly hosted in the cloud. They also continue to strengthen the tie ins of all their product sets. And this is often overlooked or ignored by the popular tech press but Microsoft back end products run the enterprise. Not Apple, not Google, not Amazon but Microsoft. Those back end products are the life blood and bread and butter for corporate America. These are products such as Office, Server SharePoint and Visual Studio. And bringing newer services to the cloud and mobile such as Azure, Skype for Business, OneDrive, Cortana voice assistant, cloud development suites and business intelligence offerings and new pieces of the Office suite like Yammer, Mix, Delve, Sway and a new browser in Edge. Then forward reaching products like the Surface Pro, a wireless display adapter (very under appreciated), Surface Hub and Hololens which are carving out new markets and exploring new capabilities.