Since current CEO Satya Nadella replaced Steve Ballmer, Microsoft has embraced a cloud first ethos. The Azure cloud platform has been the driving force behind the company’s recovery and recent success. The RightScale 2017 State of the Cloud Report provides an interesting glimpse into the state of the cloud service market. It shows that 57 percent of surveyed customers are still using AWS services. Interestingly, this is the same figure as last year. Microsoft’s Azure is being used by 34 percent of respondents, a sizeable increase from 20 percent in 2016. Google Cloud has also enjoyed growth year-on-year, from 10 percent to 15 percent.
Pleased with Surface
Ballmer’s biggest legacy at Microsoft is arguably Surface. As CEO, he attempted to steer the company to become a hardware brand, based on mobile and tablets. Think Apple v2.0 and you get the idea. The vision did not turn into a reality as Microsoft’s hardware floundered and the company hit a dark period. Ballmer ultimately left, with the Surface division hardly thriving. Since then, it seems the idea to have a hybrid machine that is both tablet and laptop was a good one. The Surface division enjoys solid growth through each quarter. Steve Ballmer says he is “most pleased” with Surface and added that the brand has “progressed nicely”.
