Julie Larson-Green's remarks show the future of "One Microsoft"

Julie Larson-Green, Executive Vice President of Devices and Research at Microsoft, has made some very interesting statements in a long interview with Brent Thill, UBS Global Technology Conference.

Where she has de alt with a multitude of topics from the past and future of the company's devices, and the vision towards where the multinational is headed in the coming months and years.

Queen of hearts

With the new restructuring of the company, following the announcement of the departure of Steve Ballmer from the position of CEO, Julie Larson-Green has been appointed to fill the role of bringing together all the device projects that exist within Microsoft and,

To obtain this position of enormous responsibility, Julie has spent 20 years in the company, where she started as an internal applications programmer; disembarking at the time of her on the Internet Explorer computer; being relocated to the early days of SharePoint; moving on to the Office part at the time of Ribbon's birth; landing on the reinvention of Windows; and finally, now reinventing the way Microsoft thinks about its devices.

About mobility and Surface

It is interesting and prescient the point of view of someone, like Julie, who has access to information that we will not know for a few months or years , on the concept of mobility.

For her, mobility is constantly changing. Mobility is a huge part of how people live, work and interact today. Now people associate mobility with a mobile phone or a tablet. But at Microsoft they call it ">

When asked by the interviewer about the Surface, she replied that it has been a fun project, where they have achieved the combination of great productivity by connecting the keyboard, with the simplicity of a tablet when interacting by touch.

she confesses that they have learned a lot, hence the changes made in version 8.1 to respond to customer feedback and make the experience more satisfying; and that they have also improved the hardware regarding battery life and the weight of the devices.

However, in my opinion, he is not blinded by these devices and affirms - and I fully agree - that they will exist, at least for the rest of my life , desktop computers (the misnamed PC), where people require precision movements with a mouse or who prioritize activity towards productivity and writing; meanwhile, some small device on the wrist, head, or pocket will allow us to access email, listen to notifications, get access to corporate data that I need to do my job, or interact with your friends and family.

Declares Microsoft as a believer in the power of the device, and in all the things they can do. However thin clients are not going to be everything, there are always things that you want to run, or that can be done better locally. Mind you, having your data and information stored remotely so you can access it from anywhere is definitely a big step forward, and it's something you The entire industry has been working for a long time.

About the three operating systems

When asked by the interviewer, Brent Thill, if there is a viable route to having two operating systems (Windows 8 and RT), and if a "> was necessary

Windows RT invites us to look at the industry, where there is a clear need for a simplified consumer electronics experience on devices.And he gives an example of the excellent work done on the iPad A closed system, of the turnkey type, with which not many things can be done but, Instead, it doesn't degrade over time, there are no viruses (yet), and the user experience is smoother, albeit more simplified.

On the other hand, Windows 8 can do whatever you want. You can add things to the start menu that can affect battery life; you can introduce software that malfunctions and destroys the user experience; Or you may be attacked by a Trojan. It is a much freer scenario, but at the cost of mobility and security

However, Windows RT was the first attempt to create a more closed system, looking for the experience of a turnkey device, in which you do not have all the flexibility of Windows, but if the power of Office and new Modern UI appsSo I could give it to my son, and he won't be able to accidentally install a bunch of toolbars in Internet Explorer. You simply can't do that by the device's own design.

So the goal was to deliver two kinds of experience to the marketplace: the full power of a Windows PC, and the simplicity of a tablet experience, which can also be productive.

That was the goal. Maybe it wasn't enough, and they weren't explained well enough Julie thinks they may not have sufficiently differentiated both types of devices. They both look similar. The use is also similar. And the user expected to be able to do everything he did in Windows in RT. But he is of the opinion that over time we will see how this differentiation continues in a more accentuated way.

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And here came the bombshell of the interview when Larson-Green went on to explain that right now Microsoft has Windows Phone, Windows RT and Windows 8: We&39;re not going to have three ."

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Their vision is to have a single mobile operating system, that offers long battery life and avoids security risks of full editions, even at the cost of the flexibility of the software you can run."

Conclusions

It seems that Microsoft has hit the nail on the head with the appointment of Julie Larson-Green. Her message is clear,the One Microsoft concept permeates the entire interview , and logic and common sense seem to accompany the immense challenges that this risky venture imposes bet initiated by outgoing Ballmer

The future of Windows RT I think is deeply intertwined with the future of Windows Phone And that, more than possibly, means the loss of the almost useless desktop in future tablets and phones, with the arrival of the highly anticipated Office RT.And why not, in the even more distant future, a single Windows that adapts to the device by enabling or disabling parts of the kernel.

This, for both builders and developers, would be a big step forward in the permanent concept of ubiquitous applications That work the same way Same way on tablet, phone, console, TV, or desktop computer.

To finish I want to point out a small response from Larson-Green where he literally says:

Amen.