[v7p1Qbt1im]

Except Azure is the new thing that makes MS untold amounts of money via the same lock-in effect created by windows/office. It‘s adjacent business basically.

Culturally it was much more difficult for Google to create a functioning cloud business, even though the tech is in it‘s nature.

A better comparison would be Xbox for MS. Or AWS for Amazon. It‘s quite surprising that xbox wasn‘t cancelled or sold off, really. It was close. Someone has to advocate for these things. Even if you‘re a company making 50 billion a year. From the outside you have to either look enigmatically mysterious and visionary. Or you have to be cost-conscious and focused.

Otherwise your stock is getting destroyed.

[Mindwipe]

Indeed. I think one of Google's big problems is that it has a finance division desperate to prove to the market how rational it is, with a huge mass of project managers and leaders from the Gmail days who believe you can launch any old crap and take five years to iterate it into something good.

[selectodude]

Lock in is fine. But Microsoft saying “we’re no longer primarily a Windows company” is one hell of a step.