Microsoft snorefest: For crying out loud, Nadella – just channel Ballmer!

Come back, Uncle Fester – all is forgiven

The genius of Ballmer was he was a general who knew how to rally the troops – a Patton who shot from the hip. Like him or hate him, everyone – employees, partners, enemies – knew where they stood and why.

That excitement is vital because Microsoft has to let customers and partners know what it stands for and why they should buy into Microsoft.

That’s needed now more than ever, because in every segment that matters to “the future”, Microsoft is late. Microsoft has failed to define the future in any of these segments and it has suffered because it now needs to catch up.

The foray into cloud – that was led by Amazon. Software as a service – Salesforce. Devices – Apple and Google. Online collaboration – Google with Docs.

Microsoft did give us Windows 8, but...

Microsoft's new CEO

Nadella’s leadership is very different to that of Ballmer: the new CEO styles himself as a pragmatist. A former server guy, he’s bringing that team’s pragmatism to Microsoft corporate face and breaking with tradition: Office is no longer only just for Windows.

But in setting Office free of Windows, what does Microsoft get in return? Yes, more users and their data, but what if the customers eschew Office? Why should customers pay to use Office or Office 365 when they get Google Docs for nothing? Where the customers go, the SIs follow – and without customers, what is there to integrate and customise? Why should they take on the expense of creating a market when the trend is going against it?

None of this was explained on Monday. There was no rallying call.

Nadella is now so encompassing and strategic, he’s forgotten to say why Microsoft matters. And that matters because, as in nature, competitors abhor a vacuum.

Our partner friend reckoned Nadella’s done no harm to the Microsoft business since February 2014. His fine words have made no difference to the boots on the ground.

In fact, Microsoft under Nadella is making it easier to do business with customers who want more than just the single Microsoft stack. There’s plenty of existing business there to mine – old Windows shops migrating servers and going to Windows Azure, ripping out PBXs for Lync or going to, shock, Windows 8.

What Microsoft is doing in the cloud is what it has done in the past: selling the same old collaboration and productivity ideas, concepts and technologies it has been doing for 30-odd years. Only now, the enemies are Google, Salesforce and others – not just IBM with Lotus Notes.

In many ways, it’s "back to the future" for Microsoft, which could explain why it parked a DeLorean at the entrance to Future Decoded. It said more and without words than what Nadella or the others did.

Fittingly, it was the DeLorean that got most of the attention from delegates, who fought each other off to snap selfies with the car.

The question for Microsoft is how it will re-package what it is already selling in this highly diversified competitive environment while - at the same time - giving away the family silver, items like Office.

After nearly a year in charge, it's time for Nadella to update his message and channel his inner Ballmer. ®