Microsoft CEO says critics should look in the mirror 'before they shoot their mouth off' about Microsoft Teams

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Satya Nadella discusses how Teams can be a single user interface for much of the web.

Satya Nadella at Build 2018
Satya Nadella at Build 2018 (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discusses Microsoft Teams in a recent interview.
  • Nadella explains how Teams can act as a single user interface for much of the web.
  • The CEO also responds to critics of Microsoft's strategy with Teams.

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella discusses the development and future of MIcrosoft Teams in a recent interview with the Financial Times. Microsoft Teams saw massive growth throughout 2020 but could become even bigger, according to Nadella.

In his interview with the Financial Times, Nadella talks about how Teams can act as a single user interface for much of the web, including video calls, collaboration tools, online communication, and services. He refers to the service as an "organising layer," which pulls together tools into a single workspace. He also points out that Teams can be a platform for developers to create services.

The Financial Times summarizes a key part of its interview with Nadella, stating, "According to Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, Teams is on its way to becoming a digital platform as significant as the internet browser, or a computer operating system."

Microsoft's competition, including Slack and Salesforce, have been critical of Microsoft. At times, the companies have accused microsoft of creating a closed software platform. Teams comes bundled with several other Microsoft services, which some companies have voiced concerns over. In response to criticism, Nadella told the Financial Times, "I think they should probably look at themselves in the mirror before they shoot their mouth off."

The accusation of a closed platform is an interesting one. Nadella spoke with the Financial Times about how Microsoft Teams integrates with several other services. Additionally, Microsoft's own Windows operating system allows people to use programs like Slack.

Microsoft Teams sat at 13 million daily active users in 2019, but that userbase exploded up to 115 million at the end of September 2020. That growth occurred for several reasons, including, of course, the global pandemic that forced millions to work and study from home. But the growth of Teams isn't simply a result of circumstance. I recently broke down how 2020 was actually the year of Microsoft Teams. It appears that Nadella thinks 2021 could be the year of Teams as well.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott

Sean Endicott is the news writer for Windows Central. If it runs Windows, is made by Microsoft, or has anything to do with either, he's on it. Sean's been with Windows Central since 2017 and is also our resident app expert. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.
13 Comments
  • Maybe worth toning down language a bit. Words like that have habit to come back and bite you.
  • Tell that to his competitors. Nadella is right.
  • Maybe but it still resulted in Microsoft being sued under Bill Gates' stewardship in the 1990s for their anticompetitive nature with Internet Explorer. Slack can't compete with Microsoft Office and Microsoft know this.
  • "Slack can't compete with Microsoft Office and Microsoft know this." Then, what is your argument?
    That Office should not be bundled with Teams?
    Teams allow office SharePoint to function expeditiously. (FYI, Slack as a developer can deveop on Teams)
    Also, do you know how many other services are bundled with Office? why single out Teams, when it was Skype for business or consumer Skype, Slack and others did not complain. Teams is nothing more than a well-oiled Skype.
  • Translation Teams will replace Outlook as the defecto place workers live in the future.
  • I totally agree.
    A one stop shop for workers in such environment which the company I work already heavily embraced. Launching Teams, I see my entire workflow and dashboard with all intranet connects, it is mind blowing. Feature update rate were extremely fast.
  • Teams is horrible. Slow and bloated mess.
  • Dude, would you guys just use what makes you happy instead of telling about a product that's expanded faster than any of the other tools that existed years before teams existed.
  • Teams is the single most impressive application I've seen emerge for Windows. That it does so much as still such a young program is AMAZING. In no way is it "bloated," except perhaps that being written in Electron (but that's not specific to Teams), it uses a fair chunk of RAM, but it's responsive and has no wasted function.
  • Probably works with Microsoft is better with HoloLens 2.
  • Possibilities to use Blur surfacing for work together.
  • He forgot to mention, the explosive growth is in part due to them dropping support for Skype next year (so many IT shops planned to move to Teams because they had to). Not sure it was a reflection on Teams being so amazing 🤣
  • They just need to make the Teams for family app faster to load like whatsapp. As an instant messenger, its on the slower side, especially when opening up the app.