Satya Nadella promotes dual use during Microsoft WPC 2014 speech

By John Callaham
published

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made his pitch today that the company will offer the best products and services for dual use in the business and personal technology world. Nadella made those remarks during his speech as part of the second keynote event at the company's 2014 Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington DC.

Nadella stated that the notion of buying a device for personal use and then trading in that product for one that's used for business won't work anymore. He added, "Simply saying BYOD is not enough. We have to harmonize this dual usage." He mentioned products and services such as Skype and Lync for messaging, OneDrive and OneDrive for Business for cloud storage, and Outlook and Exchange for email as examples of that kind of dual use commitment. He said, "Microsoft will harmonize dual usage to drive productivity in all walks of an individual's life."

Nadella went over a lot of the topics he wrote about last week in his over 3,000 word email to employees during his speech, where he talked about Microsoft's new "mobile first, cloud first" mission. However, today's second keynote at WPC offered little in the way of new information about the company's future plans. Indeed, Microsoft displayed the same "future Windows" demo of the Start menu and Modern apps running on desktop today that it showed off during BUILD 2014 in April.

There were also a few live demos during Nadella's portion of the keynote. One of them was the Skype Translator app that is planned for a beta release for Windows 8.1 later this year. The live demo had a couple of hiccups, but it was mostly successful in translating voice messages from English to German and vice-versa.

What do you think of Microsoft's efforts to promote dual use devices and services in the workplace and in personal live?

Source: Microsoft

John Callaham
John Callaham
64 Comments
  • ugh
  • Ye.. I think that too...
  • Yep.
  • 3000 words not world *edit*
  • Nadella is my hero
  • Im pretty sure he use an IPhone
  • I'm pretty sure he uses a Windows Phone.
  • He uses windows phone! Do some research before commenting here. He has mentioned in many videos and in interviews.
  • Just kiding don't need to jump like that
  • Sorry for that many comment like that in previous articles! Don't mind :-)
  • Doubtful. Probably uses it for the cameras and what not. But I'd bet his personal daily driver isn't a WP.
  • What does that have to do with the topic of this article beside trolling?
  • He uses wp with dp 8.1 with instagram beta
  • Lol :)
  • I have been helping people at work take group photos with their iPhone this post week. The latest iOS update looks nice and all BUT how do people stick with the iPhone as a high end device with THAT screen size? Especially compared to my Lumia 1520, the iPhone Congress across like a toy.
  • At least he isn't praising dual boot :|
  • VMs killed it, so he would probably pitch hyperV instead
  • Why? Boot from VHD was the best feature to be added to 7 and Windows to Go is the best feature on 8.
  • Love the idea
  • Love the idea. Extremely skeptical of the execution. Can't even get the latest update to work for users that have BitLocker on their phone...
  • For people running PREVIEW DEVELOPER version. That warns may cause issues, be careful. Jeeze, read stuff accurately. Anyways good, productive and efficient. Microsoft has a lot of ambition and work cut out for themselves. I love their plans though and if they just keep working at it, I'll support them. No one else is bringing everything together in our lives in such an interesting and perhaps invasive way, but it has wicked potential.
  • I didn't say anything about it not working for those upgrading from GDR3 - please re-read what I wrote before talking out your ass. Developer Preview (not Preview Developer) was released by MS as fully functioning and as a test bed for the general release. They must fully test the release to ensure that issues like this do not happen. I would be very pissed off if I had to fully reset my phone and lose lots of information and time because they failed to appropriately test this update.   Yes, MS has great dreams and aspirations. One example is fully integrating Skype. They've been talking about this since the start of WP8 (still crashes on me 4/5 times I open the app).   The company I see that is currently doing great work to bring all their services together in a seamless way is Google. Say what you will about Google but their services and integration is some of the best out there. MS has ambitions - stuff they've been talking about for years, but all I see are fragments of this dream scattered around the MS campus. It's taken them until now to allow the sharing of code between coworkers?! That was the most assbackwards policy if you want your products to work together. Your employees must be empowered to work together, in conjunction with one another on bringing this idea of a "One Microsoft" to fruition.    Yes, you're right, MS has ambition but so much of what they do is completely counterintuitive to making their dreams a reality.
  • Developer preview does not state its fully functional guaranteed, it states exactly the opposite that there's not guarantee your phone might not fuck up and tough luck. It's a DEVELOPER PREVIEW, for people working on developing apps or functions for the phone, not your standard every day business joe who just wants to play with cortana early. Sorry, but that's not how life works. Secondly, yes Google is good. Thirdly, the news suggests Microsofts been going through a lot of internal restructuring these past few years whether we've seen it or not. And a lot of management has been shifting around. Also we see them not really accomplishing anything without changing their minds rather quickly. Does this all seem to come together an make a little bit of sense? Last, new head shows up and has been stating for months that things will be coming together. Another empty promise? Maybe, but if you've actually indulged in the 'ecosystem', that despite its NUMEROUS flaws, it holds quite promise. Considering the fact Windows exists pretty much across the global spectrum of PC and Server hardware. It only makes sense to bring everything else in line with what we've been using primarily for the past 15 years. Others think it's a good idea to abandon the PC altogether and just switch to something different. We'll see.   Apple seems to be the weakest link here... strong technology, selfish and greedy atmosphere. Works for some people, but me no thanks. I'd rather jump over to a Google ecosystem any day, but as of now and as always, the PC is very valuable to me and Windows 8.+ impresses me. I look forward to it and the many other changes (IF they can adhere to their visions!)
  • And you call yourself a technologist? Reset your phone before updating. That elementary; all of your items should be backup to the cloud including apps
  • There is no way that doing a full reset before updating should be required. Not everything backs up to the cloud. It takes a lot of time to do a full reset and get your phone back to where it was prior to the reset.
  • Just don't try to send an attachment from your WP email that isn't a picture of your cat.....
  • Laughable that they claim to be for business when you still can't attach anything but a picture to an existing email string without using a link to the file... 
  • Is this still true for WP 8.1? This is one of the issues I HATED about WP7.x. I thought this was changed in WP8.x
  • Sadly no. It's as if no one at MS uses WP for work - they just carry one around because they work at MS.
  • Just go to the document, pdf or other file in office or onedrive and you can share anything with windowsphone also with mail.....
  • And how to share the documents through mail which we download through ie browser and open the document with Adobe reader?
  • They're saved on downloads or documents. Then you can go there and share.
  • They aren't saved anywhere, but in adobe reader
  • Go back and read what I wrote and test it for yourself. Let me know what you find...
  • In that case, Microsoft should stop selling these multiple SKUs of Windows and Office. That would be a great start. I see so many beautiful 2-1 notebooks and All-in-one desktops that I could use in my business. The problem is that almost all come solely with Windows 8 OEM, that I can't upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro to use in my AD domain environment. I need to shell out a separate $199 to buy the full Windows 8.1 pro and reinstall the OS, and missing critical hardware drivers in the process. This will be a good way Microsoft to put your money where your mouth is foe theis "dual use" future.
  • You can easily upgrade from Windows 8 OEM to Pro using 'Add features to Windows 8' and entering your Pro upgrade key (which is cheaper than regular Windows 8 Pro). Your PC would restart and you would have Windows 8 Pro without any hassle. I did the same with my laptop
  • Thanks for being a true technologist and not a pretender like a lot of people here. Knowing the ins and outs of the operating system and their capabilities as well as limitations unlike some people here.
  • Actually, it's less than half that price ($90) to upgrade to windows 8.1 pro from windows 8/8.1 oem - http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Pack-Upgrade-Online/dp/B00HG0460M
  • Good move! Do it faster.
    And recently rumoured that they are laying off Nokia's 1000 People out.
    I say, utilise them for developing the OS to take it to new horizon.
  • " non-essential personnel"
  • People need to realize more is not always better. Research that concept and you'll know why.
  • Fire the crappy people, keep the good people, steal talent from Google and Apple. Altogether they should not be reducing their workforce but instead increasing the size and talent of the teams working on things like WP, new hardware, making sure your own apps work with your own OS...
  • I agree with dual use being the future. Now release the mini
  • so then Lumia and Surface would make sense as seperate brands right? dual use!
  • Sounds great this harmonizing stuff...
  • It makes sense, or else I'd have to buy a cheap chromebook to play with :p
     
  • Get the upcoming HP stream for $199 if you can wait
  • Dual use.... Sounds logical to me. I like it.
  • It's time to act and stop talking s this had been the strategy since before Ballmer left and Satya was a part of the team pushing and developing cloud back then, do where are the working products connected? Are we washing for Apple and Google to beat us again. Did anyone hear about the deal between IBM and Apple? Satya better kick out to a notch
  • I just do not see Apple letting Microsoft launch Cortana on an iPhone, how do they plan on making money supporting other ecosystems with free apps?
  • Google already has Now on iOS. it just cant be system level like Siri.
  • So this is BlackBerry Balance?
  • Satya has alot of good plans and strategies for Microsoft, but I really hope they will be implemented so we can see positive change that's actually heading somewhere this time.
  • This is exactly the thing I have been dreaming of. Getting rid of my two phones, one for civil and one for work. I am really hoping to see an high end device for dual use. That's two sims, I mean
  • Dual use is the future? More like the present.. so where is it? MS doesn't seem to get that all of this is 4 yrs too late already! No one cares about talk - deliver it!
  • Well yes, BlackBerry Balance exists for this purpose, locking the corporate part of the device out, so that data, contracts, documents etc are not shared. Dual sim - that's definitely something good - I've been wanting a high end device with that capability forever lol
  • "Dual Use" - Now I finally realized why MS cares more about iOS and Android. That's why they get all MSs apps, features and updates first. For example you can have iOS at work and Android at home and they work perfectly together via MS apps. "Dual Use" - makes sense. Then you can have third device, WP, that brings you hope. Eternal hoping and waiting it'll have file transfer to Skype. Posted via Windows Phone Central App
  • Nadella please 1st give priority to your own platform..
  • Making the great leap to Start Screen and then going back to a transvestite Start Menu is just aweful. At least, please, make it optional. We wanna keep the productivity-boosting Start Screen.
  • Speaking of Skype, how about a decent messenging experience? The existing one is unecessarily horrid.
  • Waiting for Skype to work on Windows Phone, and email attachments. A better dual sim phone and we good to go!
  • Microsoft isn't alone in this thinking, look at Apple's new partnership with IBM, they are headed in the same direction. The lines are well and truly blurred between business and personal, people expect their home tech to work... at work!
  • I struggle a bit as I continue to force my Windows Phone to separate my personal and business needs. Looking for a separation of my One Drives, One Notes and Contacts. Also a better Calendar that allows for greater access to all of desktop Outlook features. I can't wait to see what Microsoft has to offer with respect to dual use cell and tablets and greater syncing with my desktop/laptop.
  • Here's a question. If they're bothering to eliminate multiple discrete versions of Windows, why aren't they doing the same for their services?  My idea?  Get rid of the business SKUs.  Offer one unified product, with unlockable features if necessary (probably hidden behind a subscription paywall).