Microsoft focuses strongly on online services and device boom
Microsoft East and Southern Africa Country Manager, Eric Odipo
In a recent visit by Microsoft East and Southern Africa Country Manager, Eric Odipo, the Economist had a chance to get an insight into the developments and projects Microsoft has lined up.
“Traditionally, Microsoft has been viewed as a software company, and in the past two years we have been going through a transformation to move over to online services and devices like tablets and phones to try and partner our software with the right type of devices, where clients can enjoy a better experience on the windows platform,” he stated.
He added that they are going to focus more strongly on online services and the devices boom to allow for easy accessibility to information and they will work closely with their big partners like Dell and Lenovo on which the Windows platform is supported. “We are currently in the process of acquiring Nokia, and this is an intentional move by Microsoft to penetrate the market,” he said.
Odopi stated that the reason for Microsoft’s transformation and venturing in this field is that most of the users will not have to invest a lot in the infrastructure, as most of the services will be found online on a “cloud”, where again it is easily accessible via mobile devices and tablets; hence their move to focus on them.
“With online services, one can access online information and you can get Office 365 and be able to access it in the cloud, which will cut costs on storage and hardware devices,” he explained.
During his visit Odipo highlighted that the move by the software giants to cease support for the Windows XP software was more of a better transformation, as they had been using the software for over 15 years, and it will simply be upgrading to better and more efficient programmes.
“Microsoft has been actively working with its customers and partners on the continent to help them migrate to a modern platform such as Windows 8.1, and the company’s new Windows group leader for West, East, Central Africa and Indian Ocean islands, Rotimi Olumide, is available to talk about Microsoft’s approaches and challenges, the readiness of the market, as well as providing practical tips for those upgrading to a modern version of Windows,” he said.
The Windows XP software will end its life support cycle on 11 April, but Odopi explained that Microsoft would continue to provide updates to its anti-malware signatures until July 2015.
