Former Microsoft Employee Says Windows Status Declined as Cloud and AI Rose; Nadella Pledges Investment
Ewan Dalton, a former Microsoft employee of more than 26 years, said Windows' internal standing has slipped as the company pivots to cloud and artificial intelligence. Dalton, who worked on Exchange Server, Azure and Microsoft business applications, cited the shift from standalone Windows sales to Microsoft 365 licensing and the 2018 breakup of the Windows core team. Chief Executive Satya Nadella publicly committed in late July to investing in Windows to ensure quality and a solid foundation, echoing Bill Gates' security-first response to the Code Red and Nimda outbreaks.
Ewan Dalton, who spent more than 26 years at Microsoft, recently explained why Windows' standing within the company has changed. Dalton worked on Exchange Server, Azure and Microsoft's business applications. He identified the shift in the business model as the root cause: Windows now generates negligible direct revenue as a standalone product. Individual users rarely buy Windows separately - branded PCs ship with the operating system pre-installed - while enterprise customers obtain licenses through Microsoft 365 contracts. Meanwhile, Microsoft treats cloud services and artificial intelligence as its core growth engines, and resources have been directed toward those areas.
Internal organizational restructuring has also affected Windows' position. In 2018, Microsoft split the core Windows team across different business groups, severing the operating system's direct link to the company's highest decision-making level. It was not until 2020, when Panos Panay led the reintegration of the Windows team and merged it with the Surface division, that the situation began to stabilize.
Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said publicly in late July that the company is investing in Windows to ensure it has the best quality and the most solid foundation. The statement echoes a turning point in Microsoft's history. In the early 2000s, large-scale outbreaks of malicious programs such as Code Red and Nimda forced Microsoft to make a fundamental strategic adjustment. Bill Gates launched the Trustworthy Computing initiative at the time, pausing new feature development and prioritizing security, with the rule that when new features conflict with security, security takes precedence. Microsoft is currently advancing multiple Windows 11 improvements in parallel, and Nadella's recent remarks focus on the operating system's underlying foundation.