Microsoft's new CEO promised he'd not let his Twitter account lay dormant, like it did prior to being handed the throttle of the devices and services company. And, while Satya has definitely kept up a cadence of posts since his promise, he took to the microblogging service late Tuesday night to publish his thought process around how he intends to realign Microsoft in an evolved industry.
It took Satya 7 separate posts to complete his thinking, due to the character limitation of Twitter, but his thoughts took a very familiar turn. The content of his thoughts is what has been fueling Microsoft's resurgence and evolution for a while now, even before ex-CEO, Steve Ballmer, was forced to relinquish the reins. Steve, it appears, was a dreamer, but Satya is a doer and you can bet that there's actionable methods behind the new insight into his thinking.
Satya started his Twitter flood with a nod to Marc Andreessen (best known as the co-founder of Netscape) and Evan Spiegel (CEO of Snapchat), but then dove straight to the task.
Here's how it went:
1/7 In the spirit of @pmarca , a set of tweets to define the more personal computing era (h/t to @evanspiegel )
2/7 Four characteristics: people centered, data fueled, balanced monetization, more human
3/7 People centered. Apps power experiences across devices. We will not be bound to one app, on one device, in one place
4/7 Data is our most precious natural resource. Our task is to refine data into the fuel for more personal experiences
5/7 Balanced Monetization. One business model does not fit all. Balance is achieved by putting people at the center
6/7 More Human. Technology is at a point where it starts to understand us, becomes more personal – see Skype Translator
7/7 The most powerful OS in the world is still the human being, that’s what drives us into the more personal computing era
Reading through Satya's posts, you can get a sense of Microsoft's direction. It doesn't show the actual shape the thoughts will take, but it does show a vision of a future where the user experience is central. With each of the four characteristics, Satya puts the human experience squarely in the fore. So, whatever Microsoft is cooking these days, you can bet that it will bring monumental and fundamental changes to how we humans interact with technology.
Compare Satya's intent to Google's. Personally, I feel a lot more comfortable with Satya's vision than that of Google's. Google continues to put technology first and humans last. To Google, we humans are just part of the revenue machine and many liken recent acquisitions and product introductions to SkyNet from the Terminator movie series. Satya seems to be considering just the reverse, and maybe the mantra should really be: find evil in the world, study it, and then do everything in just the opposite way.
