While Nadella is doing the right thing for today, at some point Microsoft will have to divide the past - Windows - from the future. Courier could have done that for mobile devices. Something like that will need to happen because PCs are on track to become a < 200M unit/year business, which would be less than 15% of mobile unit volume.
Microsoft will find that making a universal desktop-to-phone OS is in practical terms not doable. It is a car-boat-plane.
I think we see the DNA of Courier in the Surface line. Of course it's not all that the demos for Courier were, but it's a step in the right direction and I hope we see a lot more evolution in that regard.
> PCs are on track to become a < 200M unit/year business
I think they're well aware of that, which is why Azure and their other services are a huge part of their plans for the future. Microsoft isn't just Windows anymore.
> Microsoft will find that making a universal desktop-to-phone OS is in practical terms not doable
They seem to be doing an alright job so far. I think it's ambitious and currently imperfect, but I also think they can pull it off in time.
Win8 didn't really deliver on the Universal OS concept. There is a difference between "'Windows' everywhere" and "Windows everywhere"; though it will be interesting to see if that's enough to convince customers to use the extended platform.
Microsoft will find that making a universal desktop-to-phone OS is in practical terms not doable. It is a car-boat-plane.