Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has announced that the company is set to work differently, promising one single experience across its broad range of devices and services.
All Microsoft devices, from desktops to Xboxes via Windows Phones, are set to fall under the same division in the brave new world, with the company promising "a complete family of Windows-powered devices".
It goes on to say that Microsoft plans to "strive for a single experience for everything in a person's life that matters" - taking in phones, tablets, televisions, Xboxes and even "a small wearable".
"One experience, one company, one set of learnings, one set of apps, and one personal library of entertainment, photos and information everywhere. One store for everything," it explains, although it hasn't mentioned the one ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them at this point.
One love
So it sounds at this point as though we're looking at a unified Microsoft software experience, with Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox interfaces all coming together under one umbrella, with one app store selling apps that work across all platforms.
As for hardware, Microsoft plans to put equal focus on that side of things, speaking of "a full spectrum of both partner and first-party devices" - meaning those rumours of multiple Surface tablets on their way may not be too outlandish, nor, either, those currently-quiet whispers of a Microsoft-made Windows Phone handset.
Indeed, "our family will include phones, tablets, PCs, 2-in-1s, TV-attached devices and other devices to be imagined and developed" - like those "small wearables", perhaps?
Ballmer's note promises a "nimble, communicative, collaborative, decisive and motivated" company. Doesn't sound much like the Microsoft we currently know; but as Ballmer signs off, "Let's go."
Okay, Microsoft. Let's see what you can do.
