2022-10-18 Ben Thompson.Microsoft Full Circle
Refer To：《Microsoft Full Circle》。
In last week’s interview with Stratechery, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explained why the company was open to partnering with Meta for VR:
上周在接受 Stratechery 的采访时，Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella 解释了公司为何愿意与 Meta 在 VR 领域展开合作：
The way I come at it, Ben, is that I like to separate out, “What is the system, what are the apps”? Of course, we want to bring the two things together where we can create magic, but at the same time, I also want our application experiences in particular to be available on all platforms, that’s very central to how our strategy is.
我的看法是这样的，Ben：我喜欢把“什么是系统、什么是应用”区分开来。当然，我们希望在能够创造奇迹的地方把两者结合起来，但与此同时，我也希望尤其是我们的应用体验能在所有平台上可用，这对我们的战略至关重要。
For example, when I think about the Metaverse, the first thing I think about is it’s not going to be born in isolation from everything else that’s in our lives, which is you’re going to have a Mac or a Windows PC, you’re going to have an iOS or an Android phone, and maybe you’ll have a headset. So if that is your life, how do we bring, especially Microsoft 365, all of the relationships that are set up, the work artifacts I’ve set up all to life in that ecosystem of devices? That’s at least how I come to it and that’s where when Mark started talking to us about his next generation stuff around Quest was pretty exciting, so it made a lot of sense for us to bring — whether it’s Teams with its immersive meetings experience to Quest or whether it’s even Windows 365 streaming, and then, of course, all our management and security and even Xbox — \[to Quest]; that’s what is the motivation behind it.
例如，当我思考 Metaverse 时，我首先想到的是：它不会与我们生活中的一切相隔绝地诞生。也就是说，你会有一台 Mac 或 Windows PC，你会有一部 iOS 或 Android 手机，可能还会有一副头显。所以如果你的生活是这样的，我们如何把——尤其是 Microsoft 365——已经建立好的各种关系、我已经搭建好的工作产物，都带入那个由这些设备构成的生态中？至少我是这样理解的。也正因此，当 Mark 开始和我们谈起他围绕 Quest 的下一代东西时，我们感到非常兴奋；于是无论是把拥有沉浸式会议体验的 Teams 带到 Quest，还是把 Windows 365 的流式传输带过去，当然还有我们所有的管理与安全，甚至 Xbox——\[到 Quest]——这就是背后的动机。
This seems obvious today in 2022, but it was a fairly radical point of view when Nadella took over Microsoft in 2014. Nadella’s first event in April 2014 centered on the announcement of Microsoft’s iconic Office Suite on Apple’s iPad; the apps had been developed under former CEO Steve Ballmer, but had been withheld from launch until the company had touch-centric versions ready for Windows-based touch devices. From the beginning of Stratechery I was adamant that this was a major mistake driven by Microsoft’s inability to imagine a future without Windows at the center; from 2013’s Services, Not Devices:
这在 2022 年的今天看起来显而易见，但在 Nadella 于 2014 年接管 Microsoft 时，这是一种相当激进的观点。2014 年 4 月，Nadella 的第一次发布会以宣布 Microsoft 标志性的 Office Suite 登陆 Apple 的 iPad 为核心；这些应用是在前任 CEO Steve Ballmer 任内开发的，但公司一直按下发布按钮，直到为基于 Windows 的触控设备准备好了以触控为中心的版本。自 Stratechery 创立之初，我就坚称这是一个重大错误，根源在于 Microsoft 无法想象一个没有 Windows 居于中心的未来；以下摘自 2013 年的《Services, Not Devices》：
The truth is that Microsoft is wrapping itself around an axle of its own creation. The solution to the secular collapse of the PC market is not to seek to prop up Windows and force an integrated solution that no one is asking for; rather, the goal should be the exact opposite. Maximum effort should be focused on making Office, Server, and all the other products less subservient to Windows and more in line with consumer needs and the reality of computing in 2013.
事实是，Microsoft 正把自己缠在一个自己造就的车轴上。对 PC 市场长期式微的解决方案，不是设法扶住 Windows 并强推一个无人所求的一体化方案；相反，目标应该恰恰相反。应当把最大的努力放在让 Office、Server 以及所有其他产品对 Windows 的从属更少、而与消费者需求以及 2013 年的计算现实更加一致。
The trouble for Microsoft in the devices layer is that they only know horizontal domination. When there was nothing but PC’s, the insistence on one experience no matter the hardware worked perfectly. However, a Dell and an HP are much more similar than a tablet and a web page, for example, each of which has its own input method, user expectations, and constraints. A multi-device world demands bespoke experiences, not one size fits all. Microsoft simply doesn’t seem to understand that, and the longer they seek to “horizontalize” devices the greater the write-offs will become.
Microsoft 在设备层的问题在于他们只懂得横向主导。当市场上只有 PC 时，不管硬件如何都坚持一种统一体验的做法运转良好。然而，举例来说，Dell 和 HP 彼此的相似度远高于平板电脑与网页之间的相似度；后者各自拥有不同的输入方式、用户预期和约束条件。一个多设备的世界需要定制化的体验，而不是一刀切。Microsoft 似乎并不明白这一点，他们越是试图将设备“横向化”，未来的减记就会越大。
However, look again at that picture: there remains a horizontal layer — services — and it’s there that Microsoft should focus its energy. For Office and Server specifically:
不过，再看那张图：仍然有一层横向的——服务——，这正是 Microsoft 应该集中力量之处。具体到 Office 和 Server：
Documents remain essential and ubiquitous to all of the world outside of Silicon Valley; an independent Office division should be delivering bespoke experiences on every meaningful platform. Office 365 is a great start that would be even better with a version for iPad.
文档在 Silicon Valley 之外的整个世界仍然至关重要且无处不在；一个独立的 Office 部门应当在每一个重要平台上提供定制化体验。Office 365 是一个很好的开端，若能推出 iPad 版本会更佳。
A great many apps are simply front-ends for web-based services; an independent Server division should be delivering best-in-class interfaces and tools for app developers on every meaningful platform.
大量应用程序其实只是基于 Web 的服务的前端；一个独立的 Server 部门应当在每个重要平台上为应用开发者提供一流的接口与工具。
\[…]“Devices and services” is only half right; unfortunately Ballmer picked the wrong half.
\[…]“Devices and services” 这个口号只对了一半；不幸的是，Ballmer 选错了那一半。
This is why it was so important that Office for iPad was Nadella’s first major announcement; I wrote after the event in When CEOs Matter:
这就是为什么让 Office for iPad 成为 Nadella 的首次重大公告如此关键；我在活动结束后于 When CEOs Matter 中写道：
This is the power CEOs have. They cannot do all the work, and they cannot impact industry trends beyond their control. But they can choose whether or not to accept reality, and in so doing, impact the worldview of all those they lead.
这就是 CEO 所拥有的力量。他们不可能亲力亲为完成所有工作，也无法影响其掌控范围之外的行业趋势。但他们可以选择是否接受现实，从而影响所有被他们领导者的世界观。
Four years later Nadella’s reworking of the culture was all but complete, as I wrote in The End of Windows:
四年之后，Nadella 对文化的重塑几乎完成，正如我在 The End of Windows 中所写：
The story of Windows’ decline is relatively straightforward and a classic case of disruption…What is more interesting, though, is the story of Windows’ decline in Redmond, culminating with last week’s reorganization that, for the first time since 1980, left the company without a division devoted to personal computer operating systems (Windows was split, with the core engineering group placed under Azure, and the rest of the organization effectively under Office 365; there will still be Windows releases, but it is no longer a standalone business).
Windows 衰落的故事相对直接，并且是一次典型的颠覆案例……更有趣的是其在 Redmond 的衰落轨迹，最终以上周的重组为高潮：自 1980 年以来首次，使公司不再设有专门负责个人计算机操作系统的部门（Windows 被拆分，核心工程团队划归 Azure，其余组织事实上归于 Office 365；未来仍会有 Windows 的发布，但它已不再是一个独立业务）。
This new reality couldn’t have been clearer at last week’s Microsoft Inspire worldwide partner conference: Nadella’s keynote was all about the cloud, from Azure to Teams; Windows was demoted to one section of the company’s Surface announcements held as a precursor to the main event.
在上周的 Microsoft Inspire 全球合作伙伴大会上，这一新现实再清楚不过：Nadella 的主题演讲完全围绕云展开，从 Azure 到 Teams；而 Windows 被降格为公司 Surface 预热发布中的一个部分。
Do More With Less
以更少做更多
This is how Nadella opened his keynote:
Nadella 就是以这样的方式开启他的主题演讲：
We’re going through a period of historic economic, societal, and technological change. But for all the uncertainty we continue to see in the world, one thing is clear: organizations in every industry are turning to you and your digital capability to help them do more with less, so that they can navigate this change and emerge stronger. You are the change agents who make doing more with less possible. Less time, less cost, less complexity, with more innovation, more agility, and more resilience. Doing more with less doesn’t mean working harder or longer — it’s not going to scale — it means applying technology to amplify what you can do and ultimately what an organization can achieve amidst today’s constraints.
我们正经历一段历史性的经济、社会和技术变革时期。然而，尽管我们在世界上持续看到各种不确定性，有一点是清楚的：各行各业的组织都在求助于你们以及你们的数字能力，帮助他们以更少做更多，从而驾驭这场变革并更加强大地走出来。你们是让以更少做更多成为可能的变革推动者。用更少的时间、更低的成本、更小的复杂度，同时实现更多的创新、更强的敏捷性与更高的韧性。以更少做更多并不意味着更辛苦或更长时间地工作——那并不可扩展——而是意味着运用技术放大你所能做的事情，并最终在当今的约束条件下放大组织所能实现的成就。
Over the past few years, we have talked extensively about digital transformation. But today we need to deliver on the digital imperative for every organization. It all comes down to how we can help you do this with the Microsoft cloud. No other cloud offers the best of category products, and the best of suite solutions, and that’s what we’ll focus on at Ignite this week as we walk through the five key imperatives.
过去几年里，我们广泛讨论了数字化转型。但今天，我们需要为每一家组织交付数字化的当务之急。归根结底，是看我们如何通过 Microsoft cloud 帮助你实现这一切。没有其他云能同时提供各品类的最佳产品，以及套件级的最佳解决方案；这也是我们本周在 Ignite 上将重点关注的内容，我们会逐一讲解五项关键要务。
This “do more with less” message recurred throughout Nadella’s presentation. Three separate times Nadella emphasized how much customers would save by going with a Microsoft bundle, but that was only the “with less” part of the message; each pitch also explained why the Microsoft approach was also better (i.e. “do more”). Start with security:
这种“以更少做更多”的信息贯穿 Nadella 的整场演讲。Nadella 多次强调，选择 Microsoft 的捆绑方案可以为客户节省多少成本，但那只是信息中的“更少”部分；每一次推介也都解释了为什么 Microsoft 的方法同样更好（即“做更多”）。从安全开始：
Protecting is complex and get expensive. Every organization experiences this with so many different devices, connections to partners, and an ever shifting cloud resource deployment. The more agile you become, the more your security team struggles to manage the risk; the more connected we become, the faster a successful attacker can move laterally through the enterprise to their target. For far too long customer have been forced to adopt multiple disconnected solutions from disparate sources that don’t integrate well and leave gaps. We offer a better option: a natively integrated security solution that is supported by a vibrant partner ecosystem…you get a comprehensive solution that closes gaps and works for you at machine speed. On average, customers save more than 60% when they turn to use compared to a multi-vendor solution.
防护工作复杂且成本高昂。由于设备种类繁多、与合作伙伴的连接，以及不断变化的云资源部署，每家组织都会面临这种情况。你的组织越敏捷，你的安全团队在风险管理上就越吃力；我们越互联，攻击者一旦得手就能越快地在企业内部横向移动直至达成目标。长期以来，客户被迫采用来自不同来源的多个相互割裂的解决方案，它们集成度很差，留下了空白与漏洞。我们提供更好的选择：一个原生集成、并由充满活力的合作伙伴生态系统支撑的安全解决方案……你将获得一套全面的方案，弥合缺口，并以机器速度为你运转。平均而言，客户转而采用我们的方案后，相比多供应商解决方案可节省超过 60% 的成本。
Nadella’s argument: not only can you save money, but because all of the products come from one vendor you can rest assured that they are comprehensive and are designed to work together.
Nadella 的论点：你不仅可以省钱，而且由于所有产品都来自同一家供应商，你可以放心它们更为全面，并且被设计为协同工作。
Now let’s turn to data: with our Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform we provide a complete data fabric, from the operational stores to the analytics engines to data governance so that you can spend more time creating value and less time integrating and managing your data estate. Our goal is to provide you with the most comprehensive end-to-end data platforms so you don’t have to wrestle with the complexities of building and operating cloud scale data infrastructure yourself. Analytics alone on our data intelligence platform cost up to 59% less than any other cloud analytics out there.
现在让我们转向数据：依托我们的 Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform，我们提供一套完整的数据织体，从操作型存储到分析引擎再到数据治理，帮助你把更多时间用于创造价值，而把更少时间花在整合与管理你的数据资产上。我们的目标是为你提供最全面的端到端数据平台，这样你就不必亲自与构建和运营云规模数据基础设施的复杂性搏斗。仅就分析功能而言，我们的数据智能平台的成本最多可比其他任何云分析低 59%。
That bit about “spend more time creating value and less time integrating and managing” is the part of Microsoft’s value proposition that Silicon Valley startups so frequently miss. Slack, perhaps most famously, was so certain its superior chat experience would beat out Teams (and it is superior), that company CEO Stewart Butterfield took out an ad in the New York Times welcoming Microsoft to the space; four years later, after Teams had over six times the daily active users (and before Slack was acquired by Salesforce), I explained in Teams OS and the Slack Social Network what Butterfield got wrong:
“把更多时间用于创造价值、而把更少时间花在整合和管理上”的这点，正是 Microsoft 价值主张中 Silicon Valley 创业公司常常忽略的部分。最著名的例子或许是 Slack：他们确信自家的聊天体验优于 Teams（而且确实更优），以至于该公司 CEO Stewart Butterfield 还在 New York Times 刊登广告欢迎 Microsoft 进入这个领域；四年之后，当 Teams 的日活用户已超过其六倍（且在 Slack 被 Salesforce 收购之前），我在 Teams OS and the Slack Social Network 一文中解释了 Butterfield 弄错了什么：
可以赌一赌MSFT是云计算竞赛中最终胜出的一方，每个公司都有自己的基因，就像YouTube就应该是Google的，Kindle就应该是Amazon，MSFT在云服务中很自然的捆绑Office并且有很大的用户基数，而Google、Amazon的主业不在于此，Windows的历史同样是一种印证：1、成为所有人的上帝非常难，Windows没有做到其他企业也一样；2、不属于自己的也很难。
This is what Slack — and Silicon Valley, generally — failed to understand about Microsoft’s competitive advantage: the company doesn’t win just because it bundles, or because it has a superior ground game. By virtue of doing everything, even if mediocrely, the company is providing a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, particularly for the non-tech workers that are in fact most of the market. Slack may have infused its chat client with love, but chatting is a means to an end, and Microsoft often seems like the only enterprise company that understands that.
这正是 Slack——以及更广泛的 Silicon Valley——未能理解的 Microsoft 竞争优势所在：这家公司之所以取胜，并不只是因为打包销售，或因为它在地面执行上更胜一筹。恰恰由于它“什么都做”，即便很多做得平平，它所提供的是一个大于各部分简单相加的整体，尤其是对于实际上构成大多数市场的非技术员工而言。Slack 也许在其聊天客户端上倾注了爱，但“聊天”只是达成目标的手段，而 Microsoft 往往看起来是唯一真正理解这一点的企业级公司。
捆绑销售，企业客户最怕碎片化的东西。
That end is, to use Nadella’s words, “creating value”; “integrating and managing” is exactly what companies want to avoid.
这个“目标”，用 Nadella 的话说，就是“创造价值”；而“整合与管理”正是公司希望尽量避免的事情。
With Microsoft 365 we provide a complete cloud-first experience that makes work better for today’s digitally connected and distributed workforce. Customers can save more than 60% compared to a patchwork of solutions. Microsoft 365 includes Teams plus the apps you always relied on — Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook — as well as new applications for creation and expression like Loop, Clipchamp, Stream, and Designer, and it’s all built on the Microsoft graph, which makes available to you the information about people, their relationships, all their work artifacts, meetings, events, documents, in one interconnected system. Thanks to the graph you can understand how work is changing and how your digitally distributed workforce is working. This is so critical, and it all comes alive in the new Microsoft 365 application.
通过 Microsoft 365，我们提供一套完整的“云优先”体验，使当今数字互联且分布式的劳动力能够更好地开展工作。与东拼西凑的多种解决方案相比，客户可以节省超过 60% 的成本。Microsoft 365 包含 Teams 以及你一直依赖的应用——Word、Excel、Powerpoint 和 Outlook——还包括用于创作与表达的新应用，如 Loop、Clipchamp、Stream 和 Designer；并且这一切都构建在 Microsoft graph 之上，它在一个互联的系统中向你提供有关人员、他们的关系、所有工作产物、会议、活动、文档等信息。得益于该 graph，你可以理解工作的变化方式，以及你的数字化分布式团队的运作状况。这至关重要，而这一切都在全新的 Microsoft 365 应用中鲜活呈现。
Ah, there are the Office applications I referenced at the beginning. But notice the word that is missing: Office.
啊，这里就是我在开头提到的那些 Office 应用。但请注意那个缺失的词：Office。
From Office to Microsoft
从 Office 到 Microsoft
From The Verge:
来自 The Verge：
Microsoft is making a major change to its Microsoft Office branding. After more than 30 years, Microsoft Office is being renamed “Microsoft 365” to mark the software giant’s collection of growing productivity apps. While Office apps like Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint aren’t going away, Microsoft will now mostly refer to these apps as part of Microsoft 365 instead of Microsoft Office.
Microsoft 正在对其 Microsoft Office 品牌进行重大调整。30 多年之后，Microsoft Office 将更名为“Microsoft 365”，以标志这家软件巨头不断扩展的生产力应用组合。尽管 Excel、Outlook、Word 和 PowerPoint 等 Office 应用不会消失，但 Microsoft 现在将主要把这些应用称为 Microsoft 365 的一部分，而非 Microsoft Office。
Microsoft has been pushing this new branding for years, after renaming Office 365 subscriptions to Microsoft 365 two years ago, but the changes go far deeper now. “In the coming months, Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows will become the Microsoft 365 app, with a new icon, a new look, and even more features,” explains a FAQ from Microsoft. That means if you use any of the dedicated Office apps, they’ll all be branded with Microsoft 365 soon, and with a new logo. The first logo and design changes will appear at Office.com in November, followed by the Office app on Windows, iOS, and Android all getting rebranded in January.
在两年前将 Office 365 订阅更名为 Microsoft 365 之后，Microsoft 多年来一直在推进这一新品牌，但如今的变化更为深入。Microsoft 的一份 FAQ 解释道：“在接下来的几个月里，Office.com、Office 移动应用以及 Windows 上的 Office 应用都将变为 Microsoft 365 应用，并配以全新的图标、新的外观以及更多功能。”这意味着如果你使用任何专用的 Office 应用，它们很快都会冠以 Microsoft 365 品牌，并采用新标识。首批标识与设计变更将于 11 月在 Office.com 上出现，随后 Windows、iOS 和 Android 上的 Office 应用将在 1 月份全部完成更名。
I’ll be honest: as an increasingly old man in technology the end of the “Office” name kind of bums me out. My nostalgia is satisfied, though, by a Microsoft that has truly come full circle.
坦白说：作为一个在科技领域日渐年长的人，“Office”这一名称的落幕多少让我感到沮丧。不过，看到一个真正兜了一圈又回到起点的 Microsoft，也满足了我的怀旧情绪。
The truth about Microsoft is that while Windows’ relationship with hardware has traditionally been modular (the Surface line notwithstanding), the company’s strategy has always been about integration and bundling. This is why Ballmer was so hesitant to give up on Windows as the center of the company’s go-to-market: sure, people wanted the Office applications on different devices, but it was Windows that tied Office to Outlook to Exchange to Active Directory to Windows Server and on down the line. This, by extension, is why Nadella’s willingness to embrace reality was a risk: Office on its own was a nice business, but it wasn’t the center of enterprise like Windows had been.
关于 Microsoft，有一个事实：尽管 Windows 与硬件的关系传统上是模块化的（Surface 产品线除外），但公司的战略始终围绕集成与捆绑。这就是为什么 Ballmer 对放弃以 Windows 作为公司 go-to-market 的中心如此犹豫：当然，人们希望在不同设备上使用 Office 应用，但正是 Windows 将 Office、Outlook、Exchange、Active Directory、Windows Server 等一路串联起来。顺着这个逻辑，这也解释了为什么 Nadella 愿意拥抱现实是一种冒险：单独来看，Office 是一门不错的生意，但它不像 Windows 那样处于企业的中心。
It turned out, though, that facing reality brought another benefit: the ability to see and grasp an opportunity when it appeared. Teams, which started development in 2015, a year after Nadella’s announcement, wouldn’t simply be a chat app: it would be the new hub around which Office orbited. Teams (and Outlook) development leader Brian MacDonald said at a press event in 2019:
事实证明，直面现实还带来了另一重收益：当机会出现时能够看见并抓住它。Teams 于 2015 年开始开发，也就是 Nadella 宣布之后的一年，它并不仅仅会是一款聊天应用：它将成为 Office 运行其周边的新枢纽。Teams（以及 Outlook）的开发负责人 Brian MacDonald 在 2019 年的一次媒体活动上表示：
One of the really key things and drivers of what we wanted to do with Teams was have that be a hub for Office 365. Before what we had done was just taken all those personal productivity workloads and then moved them to the cloud, but we wanted something that was purpose-built for the cloud that could be a hub across all of Office and frankly across the rest of what we’re doing at Microsoft. A lot of the Power BI, Power Apps, and Dynamics tools that James was building, but also third party. So we built a platform for that and the third-party platform and the first-party platform are actually the same.
我们想通过 Teams 实现的一项真正关键的事情与驱动力，就是让它成为 Office 365 的枢纽。此前我们所做的，不过是把那些个人生产力的工作负载搬到云端，但我们想要的是一个为云而生的东西，它能够作为贯穿整个 Office、坦率地说也贯穿我们在 Microsoft 所做的其他一切工作的枢纽。比如 James 正在构建的许多 Power BI、Power Apps 和 Dynamics 工具，还有第三方的东西。因此我们为此构建了一个平台，而且第三方平台与第一方平台实际上是同一个。
If that sounds a lot like Windows — a hub that hosted not just Office, but other Microsoft applications and services, and a platform for 3rd-party developers — Nadella agrees with you. From the same event:
如果这听起来很像 Windows——一个不仅承载 Office、还承载其他 Microsoft 应用与服务的枢纽，同时也是面向第三方开发者的平台——那么 Nadella 会同意你的看法。仍然来自同一场活动：
Sometimes I think the new OS is not going to start from the hardware, because the classic OS definition, that Tanenbaum, one of the guys who wrote the book on Operating Systems that I read when I went to school was: “It does two things, it abstracts hardware, and it creates an app model”. Right now the abstraction of hardware has to start by abstracting all of the hardware in your life, so the notion that this is one device is interesting and important, it doesn’t mean the kernel that boots your device just goes away, it still exists, but the point of real relevance I think in our lives is “hey, what’s that abstraction of all the hardware in my life that I use?” – some of it is shared, some of it is personal. And then, what’s the app model for it? How do I write an experience that transcends all of that hardware? And that’s really what our pursuit of Microsoft 365 is all about.
有时我认为，新的 OS 并不会从硬件开始。因为关于 OS 的经典定义——Tanenbaum，这位我上学时读过其 Operating Systems 教科书的作者之一——是这样的：“它做两件事：抽象硬件，并且创建一个应用模型。”现在，硬件的抽象必须从把你生活中的所有硬件都抽象出来开始，所以“这是一台设备”的观念既有趣也重要，但这并不意味着为你的设备引导启动的内核（kernel）就此消失，它仍然存在。只是我认为在我们的生活中真正相关的关键在于：“嘿，我所使用的生活中所有硬件的那个抽象是什么？”——其中一部分是共享的，一部分是个人的。然后，对应的应用模型是什么？我该如何编写一种跨越所有这些硬件的体验？这实际上正是我们追求 Microsoft 365 的全部要义。
Office being on its own gave Teams an easy go-to-market: Microsoft just bundled it in. Today, though, it is Teams and everything built on that scaffolding that is Microsoft’s new Windows. It is the company and its operating system, not its apps, that are back at the center. In this sense, renaming Office 365 to Microsoft 365 is the most natural thing in the world: Office was a ship that set sail from the declining civilization that was Windows, with an uncertain destination. Today, though, that ship is but a footnote in Microsoft’s new empire in the cloud.
Office 的独立存在使得 Teams 拥有了简易的市场进入（go-to-market）：Microsoft 只需把它打包进去即可。不过今天，构成 Microsoft 新 Windows 的，是 Teams 以及搭建在这副脚手架上的一切。回到中心位置的是公司及其操作系统，而不是其应用。从这个意义上说，把 Office 365 更名为 Microsoft 365 再自然不过：Office 就像是一艘从正在式微的 Windows 文明中扬帆起航的船，去向未卜。而今天，那艘船不过是 Microsoft 云端新帝国中的一个脚注。
Moreover, it seems likely this empire will be more durable than the old Microsoft republic: the entire reason why Windows faltered as a strategic linchpin is that it was tied to a device — the PC — that was disrupted by a paradigm shift in hardware. Microsoft 365, on the other hand, is attached to the customer. Nadella again:
此外，这个帝国看起来将比旧日的 Microsoft 共和国更加持久：Windows 之所以作为战略支点失灵，根本原因在于它系于一种设备——PC——而这种设备被硬件范式的转变所颠覆。相形之下，Microsoft 365 则系于客户。Nadella 再次说道：
What we are trying to do \[with Microsoft 365] is bring home that notion that it’s about the user, the user is going to have relationships with other users and other people, they’re going to have a bunch of artifacts, their schedules, their projects, their documents, many other things, their to-do’s, and they are going to use a variety of different devices.
我们试图通过 \[Microsoft 365] 真正落实这样一种观念：一切围绕用户展开。用户会与其他用户、其他人建立关系；他们会拥有一堆“产物”，他们的日程、项目、文档以及许多其他东西、他们的待办事项；同时他们会使用各种不同的设备。
This is why Microsoft, instead of being late to the iPad, is remarkably early to VR. Why not? Devices are but mere conduits to the cloud, which means that Microsoft is well-placed to navigate this new paradigm if it becomes a major platform — and to not miss a beat if it is not. In other words, to say that Microsoft has come full circle may be selling Nadella’s transformation short: the all-encompassing dominant Microsoft of old may be back, but in a version that is even stronger and more resilient than before.
这就是为什么 Microsoft 没有再像对 iPad 那样姗姗来迟，而是对 VR 异常超前。何乐而不为？设备不过是通往云的载体。这意味着：如果它成为一个重要平台，Microsoft 能够很好地驾驭这一新范式——而如果它不是，也丝毫不会打乱节奏。换句话说，称 Microsoft “兜了一圈又回来了”可能还是低估了 Nadella 的改革：那个包罗万象、占据主导的旧日 Microsoft 也许回来了，但它的版本比以往更强大、更具韧性。
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