Satya Nadella gets the top job at Microsoft

The wait is over. After months of speculation about who would assume Microsoft’s throne, we finally have an answer. 

Multiple reports indicate that Microsoft has selected Satya Nadella as its new CEO. Though rumors flew around for months about possible candidates for the job, which included outsiders like Ford’s Alan Mulally, Microsoft instead hired an insider who has a deep history with the company. We think this could be a solid hire.

One of Steve Ballmer’s weaknesses was that he lacked an engineering background, which could be a reason (of many) why Microsoft has released so many heavily flawed and ill-fated products during his tenure as CEO. Microsoft’s consumer oriented product missteps under Ballmer include Windows 8, Zune, Windows Vista, and more.

Nadella, on the other hand, has a background in engineering and a long history with Microsoft. Nadella first joined the firm in 1992. He was hired to work on what would eventually become Windows NT. Since then, he’s been VP of the Business Division and has also led Research & Development for Microsoft’s Online Services Division. Most recently, Nadella was the Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise Group. Nadella’s background in cloud services could serve the company well, especially considering that the industry is moving in that direction ever so swiftly.

More: 5 Ways Satya Nadella Could Make Microsoft Great Again

In Nadella’s first letter to the company as CEO, he provided some insight into what his vision for Microsoft is, and what he perceives the company’s role to be in the world. 

“I believe over the next decade computing will become even more ubiquitous and intelligence will become ambient. The coevolution of software and new hardware form factors will intermediate and digitize – many of the things we do and experience in business, life, and our world. This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning.”

Nadella went to to say that “This is a software-powered world.”

Nadella’s Microsoft CEO profile page indicates that Redmond’s newly minted head cheese will be holding a webcast at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET. You can tune into it by clicking here, scrolling down, and clicking on the circular “Webcast” button to the right of the page.

What do you think of Satya Nadella assuming the role of Microsoft CEO? Sound off in the comments below.