At the end of a surprisingly eventful, exciting presentation of Windows 11, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella came on the video feed to deliver some closing remarks. He laid out his vision for Windows 11 as a \u201cplatform for platform creators,\u201d and in doing so, he issued a subtle but nonetheless stinging critique of Apple.<\/p>\n
Nadella\u2019s speech was almost entirely about building a case that Windows would be a better platform for creators than either macOS or (especially) iOS. He argued that \u201cthere is no personal computing without personal agency,\u201d insisting that users should be more in control of their computers.<\/p>\n
Nadella called out the changes Microsoft is making to its app store rules, allowing more types of apps, Android apps, and \u2014 most importantly \u2014 allowing apps to use their own payment systems if they so choose. He said, \u201cA platform can only serve society if its rules allow for this foundational innovation and category creation.\u201d That rhetoric sounds vaguely nice and inspiring out of context, but in the specific context of the current debates, lawsuits, and legislation over app store rules, it\u2019s a sharp and direct critique.<\/p>\n
More than anything, though, Nadella and Microsoft are putting their finger on an emerging trend in the debate about app store policies: how they affect individual creators. Alluding to Ben Thompson\u2019s recent article about \u201csovereign writers,\u201d Nadella says, \u201cWindows has always stood for sovereignty for creators and agency for consumers.\u201d Microsoft even went so far as to build a direct tipping feature for creators into Windows 11.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to call this critique opportunistic. After all, Microsoft itself tried to build an app store ecosystem for Windows that utterly failed to match the level of success we\u2019ve seen for the iPhone (or Android, for that matter). It\u2019s a truism that, in tech, the underdog always calls for openness until they\u2019re the top dog \u2014 and Microsoft\u2019s app store is definitely the underdog. But just because a critique is opportunistic doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not correct<\/em>.<\/p>\n Nadella ends by alluding to this quote from Arthur Schopenhauer (without naming him, likely because he was very<\/em> problematic<\/em>):<\/p>\n Authors can be divided into meteors, planets and fixed stars. The meteors produce a loud momentary effect; we look up, shout \u2018see there!\u2019 and then they are gone for ever. The planets and comets last for a much longer time. … The fixed stars alone are constant and unalterable; their position in the firmament is fixed; they have their own light and are at all times active, because they do not alter their appearance through a change in our standpoint, for they have no parallax. Unlike the others, they do not belong to one system (nation) alone, but to the world. But just because they are situated so high, their light usually requires many years before it becomes visible to the inhabitants of earth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s a long way of pointing out that despite the short-term incentives, Nadella is playing a very long game with Windows 11. Just as Google and Apple build their companies around their business models, so does Microsoft. But Microsoft\u2019s business model has nothing to do with selling Windows or even getting a cut of app sales anymore. It\u2019s about Microsoft 365, Azure, and enterprise services. <\/p>\n When Nadella says Windows is \u201ca platform for platform creators,\u201d Microsoft\u2019s other services are some of those other platforms \u2014 that happen to work well on Windows. For the time being, Nadella\u2019s argument is that Windows 11 is big enough and broad enough to make room for others, too \u2014 and that other platforms are not.<\/p>\n Nadella\u2019s full remarks are below. And just as this story was published, Nadella himself tweeted the core part of his speech:<\/p>\n Windows has always stood for sovereignty for creators and agency for consumers, and with Windows 11 we have a renewed sense of Windows\u2019 role in the world. pic.twitter.com\/xHldf38B8d<\/p>\n \u2014 Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) June 24, 2021\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m really excited to be here with you all. Today marks a major milestone in the history of Windows. It\u2019s the beginning of a new generation. I\u2019m excited by what we have shown you today and how we are reimagining everything from the operating system itself to the browser to the store and the feed.<\/p>\n And I want to reflect briefly on how we got here. Throughout its history, Windows has been a democratizing force for the world. Windows has created entirely new categories for both consumers and businesses. It\u2019s led to many of the world\u2019s most successful software categories, from communications and productivity to design and business applications, each of which has created their own ecosystems. The web itself was born and grew up on Windows. It\u2019s driven silicon innovation device innovation. It\u2019s enabled so many people \u2014 including hobbyists, developers, and entrepreneurs \u2014 to all dream big; turn their ideas into reality; and monetize their creation. <\/p>\n Windows has always stood for sovereignty for creators and agency for consumers.<\/p>\n With Windows, you can consume apps and build apps. You can play games and design games. You can buy a PC and build a PC. You can join your community and create your community. You can buy from a business and start your own business. With Windows 11, we have a renewed sense of Windows\u2019 role in the world. As I look ahead, I see three clear opportunities. <\/p>\n First, Windows recognizes that there is no personal computing without personal agency. Personal computing requires choice, and we need to nurture and grow our own agency over computing itself. We want to remove the barriers that too often exist today and provide real choice and connection.<\/p>\n We need to be empowered to choose the applications we run, the content we consume, the people we connect to, and even how we allocate our own attention. Operating systems and devices should mold to our needs, not the other way around. That\u2019s why we are making it easier for you to connect with the people you want, the content you want, the apps you want across all devices you want.<\/p>\n Second, Windows is the stage for the world\u2019s creation. As a creator, every time you pick up a Windows device, it becomes a stage for your inspiration, so you can dream big and create something profound and lasting. Creation is going through a sea change as the balance between consumption and creation changes.<\/p>\n With this new generation of Windows, we are unleashing the innovation and ingenuity inherent in each of us. We want to foster these virtuous loops between content, consumption, and commerce \u2014 driven by communities for everyone. These cycles should flow freely, giving people frictionless access to apps, files, games, movies, shows, content, and communities that matter to them. We want to empower you to produce and inspire you to create. It\u2019s why we\u2019re introducing a complete new user experience in helping you be more productive. <\/p>\n And finally, Windows isn\u2019t just an operating system; it\u2019s a platform for platform creators. It allows for the broadest of design spaces, enabling people to build their own businesses and communities.<\/p>\n Today, the world needs a more open platform, one that allows apps to become platforms in their own right. Windows is a platform where things that are bigger than Windows can be born, like the web. That\u2019s our aspiration with Windows 11, to be the platform for the next web, the next transformational software category, the next personalized content business.<\/p>\n A platform can only serve society if its rules allow for this foundational innovation and category creation. It\u2019s why we\u2019re introducing new store commerce models and policies, and creating new opportunities for local publishers, and supporting even more apps with Android apps on Windows. <\/p>\n This is the first version of a new era of Windows. We\u2019re building for the next decade and beyond. And when I reflect on those chapters to come, I\u2019m reminded of an analogy from a 19th century philosopher who compared creators to objects in our Solar System. He wrote about meteors that flash but fade away. Planets that burned longer, but whose energy is confined to their own orbit \u2014 and compared them to stars that are constant and light the path of their own.<\/p>\n That\u2019s our ambition with Windows: to help other stars and entire constellations to be born and thrive. I am incredibly proud of what Windows has achieved and how it is fostered lasting opportunity for others. And I look forward to seeing what you achieve with Windows 11 and how it\u2019ll unlock enduring opportunity for people in the world.<\/p>\n Thank you all very, very much.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the end of a surprisingly eventful, exciting presentation of Windows 11, Microsoft CEO…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[38,48,44,51,46,50,54,52,56,53,55],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itparadise.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n\n