Category: Microsoft

Microsoft Office for iPad team does an AMA⇢

⌘ Permalink

This is pretty neat:

Hello from the Office for iPad engineering team!

In the first week since launch we’ve seen over 12 million app downloads and heard a lot of valuable feedback. We’re already incorporating that feedback into future updates, and to kick things into high gear, we are partnering with Reddit for the next 2 hours to give you an opportunity to ask us anything (well, nearly anything) about Office for iPad. We have developers, testers and program managers from each app team (Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad) here to answer your questions.

Continue reading ⇢

The war was over years ago

⌘ Permalink

With Office for iPad being released this week and Microsoft reportedly backing away from its anti-iPad campaign, change is underway at the software giant.

There’s an obvious reason for this. The company’s new CEO Satya Nadella is a breath of fresh air in Redmond.

Clearly Office for iPad was in the works before Nadella was promoted to CEO in February. There’s evidence of Office for iPad that surfaced (hrm!) back in October 2013 and December of 2012. Eric Slivka’s Mac Rumors post in October suggests that Microsoft was working on bringing a “touch-first” version of Office to its own Windows platform before iOS.

Continue reading ⇢

Satya Nadella named Microsoft CEO⇢

⌘ Permalink

Tom Warren:

It’s official: Microsoft’s CEO search is over. Following recent reports, the software giant is appointing Satya Nadella as its new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer. 46-year-old Nadella will take over immediately, allowing Ballmer to retire early. Nadella had been part of a number of candidates that Microsoft was believed to have interviewed for the role, with the company originally pushing to name its Ballmer successor before the end of last year. Despite the search extending into 2014, the timing of the CEO announcement is important as it places Nadella in charge ahead of the closure of Microsoft’s Nokia deal and its ongoing reorganization.

Continue reading ⇢

You Can’t Make It Up⇢

⌘ Permalink

Tom Warren:

At one point during the meeting, Ballmer chose to play the song he used back at his first company meeting in 1983: Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”. He then proceeded to jump and dance around the stage screaming at the top of his voice “the sound of Microsoft!” After the song ended, an emotional Ballmer paused to “enjoy this for a minute,” with tears visibly streaming down his face. “You work for the greatest company in the world, soak it in.”

Continue reading ⇢

On Microsoft, Nokia and Making Your Own Hardware

⌘ Permalink

Microsoft PR:

Building on this successful partnership, we announced some important news today: an agreement for Microsoft to purchase Nokia’s Devices & Services business, to deliver more choices, faster innovation, and even more exciting devices and services to our customers.

Today’s agreement will accelerate the momentum of Nokia’s devices and services, bringing the world’s most innovative smartphones to more people, while continuing to connect the next billion people with Nokia’s mobile phone portfolio.

Continue reading ⇢