http://www.cnbc.com/id/101614218

Obviously this is all speculation, and no solid proof yet that Microsoft invests less on Windows. But what do you think if it were to come true that Microsoft now focus only on cloud services? It's kind of like the same move IBM made when they decided to move away from hardware to consulting.

It's possible that they want to move away from PC desktop OS market, although financially that wouldn't be a smart move. Windows is still being used by majority of people.

Funny quote from the video:

Users spending nearly 5 hours per day on the console!...Do people work on this country?

Thoughts?

Jim Cramer, huh.

Everyone Who Started Watching 'Mad Money' In 2005 Now Billionaires

It's obvious that Nadella is making some changes, and trying to diversify their business model to appeal more to people outside the corporate space (though Ballmer's reins started that initiative as well with the subscription stuff). The recent stuff with OneNote is a good example. However, windows isn't going away. They've got way too much stuff going on in the tech side of things for that to be any more than crazy sensationalism.

http://www.newsday.com/business/technology/microsoft-beats-estimates-in-first-quarter-profit-jumps-on-cloud-biz-1.7824284

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft add more resources to cloud services considering how their profit just double

revenue from cloud-based Office 365 productivity software more than doubled from commercial customers, while revenue from its cloud computing service Azure grew more than 150 percent.

Windows isn't going away, but it wouldn't be receiving as much love as it used to back then. Microsoft can't just kill Windows in a week or month, but they might slowly reducing resources on Windows development.

Maybe they'll port the Windows desktop to FreeBSD...

It's kind of like the same move IBM made when they decided to move away from hardware to consulting.

That is a gross misinterpretation. IBM didn't move away from hardware to consulting. They added consulting at dumping prices (which they can afford, both because losses are backed by hardware sales, and because they produce hardware used in consulting jobs themselves) when hardware alone became less profitable (mostly the fault of GNU/Linux). They're securing customers with dumping rates before they go to some other company like CapGemini, PWC, or Accenture and lock them into their service for long term. Which will likely prove very profitable -- not during the next 3 months, but during the next 3 decades.

In addition to that, IBM is patenting everything that can be patented according to US law (which is pretty much everything). I just saw another one of those ridiculous trivial patents today which basically describes exactly Dmitry Vyukov's BSD-licensed MPMC queue. Which, again, is something that doesn't pay at short term, but will likely pay at long term (unless the USA become a state with a real, serious legal system and a real, serious no-cowboy patent office, which is very unlikely to happen).

t's possible that they want to move away from PC desktop OS market, although financially that wouldn't be a smart move.

This it the understatment of the year. Anyone suggesting that they are moving away from Windows anytime soon is utterly clueless about just how much money Windows makes, even in quarters with decreasing growth (i.e., still a forward velocity, just with a smaller acceleration).

They're also utterly clueless about how every single one of Microsoft's products - including the cloud services - is running on Windows (with some bits of Linux in some acquired services, but those will likely be phased out).

t's possible that they want to move away from PC desktop OS market, although financially that wouldn't be a smart move.

This it the understatment of the year. Anyone suggesting that they are moving away from Windows anytime soon is utterly clueless about just how much money Windows makes, even in quarters with decreasing growth (i.e., still a forward velocity, just with a smaller acceleration).

They're also utterly clueless about how every single one of Microsoft's products - including the cloud services - is running on Windows (with some bits of Linux in some acquired services, but those will likely be phased out).

This. I see the cloud services as a new skin on an old concept -- building up a nice, beefy ecosystem to keep people on the Windows platform. Don't get me wrong, Office makes (and always has made) serious bank, but the synergy between the two flagship products is what keeps them going.

Maybe they'll port the Windows desktop to FreeBSD...

I hope that will never happen...

I think Microsoft are going to come back with vengeance in the next few years. I'm not going to put my money where my mouth is but I also called it when they where at $27 per share, now $40, everyone said I was nuts. Windows phone is growing (10% in the uk last I heard), surface is growing, cloud is growing, xbone sales strong, C# is growing fast, F# creeping into financial sector.

Microsoft is a diverse company and this was just a PR campaign for cloud. It appears to have worked.