There have been a lot of changes in and around Microsoft in the past few months. Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, the push toward “cloud first” and “mobile first” services, things are stirred-up a bit right now. I have to admit that having worked with consulting clients who can’t, aren’t ready or just don’t want to move to the cloud; I’ve gotten a little caught up asking why it’s all necessary. The short answer is that cloud services are a reality. Just about everyone does business on the Internet in some way and, for technology product and service providers like Microsoft, it’s faster and more efficient to deliver to the cloud before shrink-wrapping boxes of software to be installed on traditional servers and desktop computers.
Microsoft just released their public Cloud Platform roadmap to tell the world where a lot of things stand, where they’re going and what they’re thinking. The cloud discussion is a complicated one for a lot of folks. Depending on the business need and scenario, moving certain services to the cloud could make a lot, a little or no sense at all. Fact of the matter is that Microsoft is offering new stuff in the cloud first and angry peasants with torches and pitchforks won’t change that. I’ve attended a few insider meetings where bits of this and related roadmaps were presented in certain specialty areas. My general sense is that when there are big changes made, there is natural resistance, they will followed by adjustments to fill gaps and complete the story. Mistakes will be made and perhaps corrected but awesome new capabilities will also surface that will radically alter and maybe improve the way we do certain things. I think the new Power BI offering is an excellent example.
In jest (maybe…a little); If you wanted to settle-down and be comfortable, why are you working in Information Technology? Just some thoughts based on my observation.
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