Nadella urges partners to embrace technology of the future in WPC keynote
Cognitive services and mixed reality take centre stage in Toronto
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said mixed reality is the "ultimate computer" for partners to sell, hailing the new technology, and others, as a huge opportunity for the channel.
During his keynote speech at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Toronto today, Nadella told the 20,000 partner delegates that mixed reality - which through its Hololens kit allows users to see the real world mixed with "digital artefacts" - is the future.
Hololens was debuted to partners at WPC last year, but in today's address, Microsoft execs urged partners to start using it, stressing that it is now available. Nadella used customer Japan Airlines as an example of what Hololens can do, claiming the airline uses the kit to enable staff to complete training virtually.
During his keynote, Nadella said mixed reality is about to change the industry significantly.
"One of the things personal computing has always been shaped by is the category creation moments, when input and output have changed. One such moment is upon us now and that is mixed reality. Hololens is available today," he said.
"It's brought a new medium, a new paradigm, where for the first time in history we can take the analogue world and superimpose in it digital artefacts to create this mixed reality. You can be everywhere from anywhere and do it in an untethered way. It's the ultimate computer. We're very, very excited about Hololens and the opportunity it represents.
"When you change the way you see the world, you change the world you see. I'd encourage everyone to look at the new medium in the context of everyday applications. It's going to be the most transformative thing."
Speaking up
Throughout his keynote, Nadella made some references to the success of Office 365, Dynamics and Windows 10, but he focused heavily on new and emerging technology.
Cognitive services and speech - where language is automated by a device - was another key area of focus for him. He hailed the work one partner did with McDonald's to improve the service offered in a drive-thru, which is typically noisy and difficult for staff and customers to understand each other.
"When you change the way you see the world, you change the world you see. I'd encourage everyone to look at the new medium in the context of everyday applications. It's going to be the most transformative thing."
"What if you could teach all computers human language?" Nadella said. "What if you could just text to speak and the applications were brought in context of your task? That's what the conversation-as-a-platform enables. There are three different actors - us humans having conversations; bots - everyone today whose business is building applications will build bots as a new interface with a human dialogue; and Cortana, which is a special form of a bot which knows deeply about you and your organisation and the world. That's how conversation-as-a-platform is going to become a reality."
In keeping with partner conference tradition, Nadella declared his appreciation for partners during his address.
"None of this would be possible but for the partners," he said. "Microsoft has always been a partner-led company and will always be partner-led company. But what really drives us, what makes it all possible, is your passion, your commitment and your drive to make us better.
"Your feedback - those emails I get from you throughout the year, pushing us to do better - is what I am really, really thankful for. That's what it takes for this partner ecosystem to thrive. So thank you so very much for everything you do to make this partner ecosystem the very best. I wouldn't be here on this stage if it were not for this ecosystem and its ability to get technology to every corner of the world."