Windows doesn't matter to the new Microsoft

Once not so very long ago, Windows reigned supreme at Microsoft as both its cash cow and its technological focus.

The history of the company is dotted with stories about innovative, game-changing technologies (an early ebook reader, a pre-iPad tablet) that were killed from up above because Microsoft was concerned that it would eat into the Windows-on-computers business.

Now, as we look forward to the launch of Windows 10 on July 29th, it's time to take stock of the state of Windows amid a softening PC market, shrinking revenue numbers, and Microsoft's new corporate focus on productivity.

There's some bad news on that front: Microsoft Windows doesn't matter anymore. But I come not to bury Microsoft, but to praise it.

There's an old writer's adage: "Kill your darlings," meaning that nothing of your work is ever too precious to get rid of in the name of making a stronger work. Author Stephen King once went a step further and wrote in his memoir to "kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings."

Well, Microsoft is certainly killing its darling Windows business. But it's all in the name of a greater good: Building more stuff that people find useful, without forcing users to only run around in Microsoft's playground.

A prime example arrived today when Microsoft announced that Send, an email tool that looks more like a instant messaging app, is coming first to iPhone and later to Windows Phone. That would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Now, thanks to releases like Microsoft Outlook for iOS, Office for iOS and Android, the forthcoming Cortana digital assistant for iOS and Android, and so on, seeing Microsot software on non-Windows platforms is so common as to be otherwise unnoteworthy. "Oh, another useful Microsoft app for iPhone," we seem to say every time. "Just throw it on the pile."

From Microsoft's perspective, this is exactly where they want to be.

The idea, for Microsoft, is simple: Getting people to use even the free Microsoft services (SkyDrive cloud storage, the free versions of Office apps for iPhone, et cetera) is a gateway towards the paid, premium, subscription-based ones - Xbox Live for gaming, Office 365 for productivity, the Enterprise Mobility Suite for business.

The role of Windows 10 in this new mission is subtle. Maybe too subtle.

Windows 10 is designed to integrate with all of those services. Out of the box, Windows 10 has Xbox and Groove apps, for starters. On the business side, the Enterprise Mobility Suite subscription service adds some extra manageability features.

It's supposed to encourage you to buy all the way in to the Microsoft ecosystem. Windows 10 is a funnel, guiding you towards signing up for these new subscriptions and buying all these apps.

Giving everybody in the world a free upgrade to Windows 10 for the next year is a small price to pay to get everybody on the platform and forking over cash to Microsoft on a monthly basis.

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