One Microsoft

If you have ever been to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, you alternate in awe at the antiquities on display, in wonder at what else is hidden away in the storerooms and in dismay at the areas where number of 120,000 items are seemingly just strewn about. 

In many ways, that is Microsoft.

I am increasingly seeing Microsoft pull together pieces from its vast collection into coherent bundles. So, take the new XBox One which leverages Win 8, Kinect, Skype, Azure, SkyDrive, Hyper V, Bing and other Microsoft assets. During the analyst event a few weeks ago, they told us how they brought together Retail software, with Nokia Lumias and with other functionality developed by cloud partner Avanade for a POS solution in the sky for Delta. They told us how they were packaging for digital agencies their marketing apps along with access to their media properties. Expect to see more such plays, especially as they target specific industries.

They are also providing a road map for other diverse companies like HP and Cisco to have their units work better among themselves.

Of course, few companies have the rich diversity Microsoft does. At the analyst event, they classified their competencies as

• Operating System
• High Value Apps
• Hardware/Nokia
• Cloud Services
• Machine Learning
• Natural UI
• Consumer/Enterprise (comfort with both)

Like the Egyptian museum I suspect from time to time we will see disorganized messes, and some areas which remain hidden in the Microsoft storeroom.  But where they get the One Microsoft strategy humming,  competitors better watch out.