NEWS

Microsoft's future will be less devoted to its Windows operating system as it continues to push into mobile and cloud services, CEO Satya Nadella said.

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella outlined his new vision for productivity Wednesday in front of thousands of the company's partners, pledging to make the Microsoft ecosystem as pervasive as possible.

Microsoft is continuing its dogfight with Salesforce.com in the customer relationship management software market with a new Dynamics CRM Online cloud service for U.S. government agencies.

Microsoft controls more than 90 percent of the personal-computer market. Which means that, in its view, it's an underdog.

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner acknowledged that his company's operating systems power only a small fraction of all devices worldwide.

CEO Satya Nadella gave what amounted to a public tongue-lashing to Microsoft's 127,000 employees, which was followed up by an analyst's report that the company plans to announce layoffs of up to 10% of that number at its quarterly earnings report July 22.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella demoted Windows to a handful of terse mentions deep in his 3,100 all-hands strategy email.