Relevant! Relevant! Relevant! At 50, Microsoft Is an AI Giant, Open-Source Lover, and as Bad as Ever

Tech expert Benedict Evans captured the company’s diminution successful a July 2013 effort called “The Irrelevance of Microsoft.” “No one’s acrophobic of them,” helium wrote. The adjacent month, the committee pushed retired Ballmer. Contenders for his occupation included the CEO of Ford and the erstwhile president of Skype. But Nadella wrote a 10-page memo arguing that Microsoft’s revival would travel from a maturation mentality. As helium aboriginal enactment it, helium wanted to alteration the firm property from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all.” The board—along with Gates and Ballmer, who were connected the hunt committee—agreed that helium was the one.

“Obviously, I’m a consummate insider,” Nadella says, talking to maine successful July aft his code and a lusty ovation. He saw firsthand however the institution had mislaid its way. “You hide what made you palmy successful the archetypal place. And hubris sets in.” Microsoft, helium says, needed much than a large caretaker oregon businesslike manager. “The metaphor I similar is re-founding. Founders make magical things from nothing.”

From his archetypal time arsenic main executive, Nadella worked astatine the company’s Glengarry Glen Ross culture. Perhaps successful portion due to the fact that 1 of his children had cerebral palsy (Zain Nadella died successful 2022), Nadella is highly empathetic. In Microsoft of old, everyone had a communicative astir Bill Gates shrieking astatine the apical of his lungs implicit their stupidity. In Nadella’s archetypal gathering with section leaders helium wheeled successful a cart loaded with copies of a publication called Nonviolent Communication and gave 1 to each person. “Before Satya it was hard to amusement up to a gathering wherever you didn’t cognize the answer, oregon wherever you had a thought but you couldn’t beryllium it,” says Microsoft workplace exec Jared Spataro. “Satya was much like, ‘Come with your brain. Be sharp, and let’s speech astir it.’ That felt liberating.”

Nadella wasn’t a blamer. In 2016, Microsoft was humiliated erstwhile its much-touted chatbot Tay proved shockingly susceptible to being manipulated into generating racist content. Reviewers were brutal. “I was getting forwarded emails from truly aggravated employees,” says Lili Cheng, who led the project. “I was feeling truly unspeakable astir putting the institution successful that position. And Satya sent maine an email that said, ‘You’re not alone.’”

The CEO besides smashed done outdated firm ideas, notably Microsoft’s aversion to unfastened root software, which it saw arsenic a menace to its exemplary of locking successful customers with proprietary tools. “Microsoft had wholly neglected the unfastened root satellite for a decade—in information they’d been hostile to it,” says Nat Friedman, who successful the aboriginal 2010s ran a institution based connected unfastened root software. “While Microsoft’s relationships with developers person been cardinal to the occurrence of the company, it had mislaid a generation.”

Nadella wanted to triumph the adjacent one. Even earlier helium became CEO, erstwhile helium was successful complaint of Azure, 1 travel acceptable him connected the course. He and his lieutenant, Scott Guthrie, met with a radical of startups to merchantability them connected the unreality service. All of them utilized Linux. When the Microsoft executives near the country for a break, Guthrie said that Microsoft truly should enactment Linux. “Absolutely!” said Nadella, trash-canning years of Microsoft dogma. Guthrie asked whether they should reappraisal the determination with different Microsoft leaders. “No,” Nadella said, “let’s conscionable bash it.”

“In a five-minute break, walking to the bath and back, we were capable to wholly alteration the institution strategy astir enactment for Linux and unfastened source,” says Guthrie. When Nadella aboriginal told Ballmer, who was successful his last days astatine the company, helium simply informed him of the argumentation shift. Then, 2 months aft Nadella became CEO, Guthrie suggested that they alteration the sanction “Windows Azure” to “Microsoft Azure.” It was done connected the spot, sending a awesome that Microsoft would nary longer measure each determination based connected its interaction connected Windows.