We are halfway through 2014 and Microsoft is having a good year - well, almost - even if it had to cut 18,000 jobs, can the Surface Mini, kill Android for Nokia, shut its Xbox Entertainment Studios and merge its tech conferences



From Techradar:

The Xbox One was met with widespread praise and has been selling in record numbers; Windows Phone is improving rapidly, introducing Cortana; Windows 8.1 garnered praise and, most importantly, continues Microsoft's vision of one day linking the PC and smartphone together.And of course Satya Nadella, who was appointed in February, is making vast improvements to both the ideas and operation of Microsoft, unveiling software and services which would never have occurred under Steve Ballmer, including Office for iPad, which opens up Microsoft and pulls the company further into competition with Google, Apple and others.The Microsoft of the past is gone. Under Steve Ballmer's leadership Microsoft managed to miss out on both the smartphone and tablet explosions, forcing the company to rely on desktop sales and enterprise customers, and causing the Microsoft brand become irrelevant to consumers.The latter - enterprise - is a solid bet. The former - desktop sales - is not. Revenue from enterprise continues to climb rapidly, but desktop and laptop sales are in free fall, with the prospect of growth becoming less and less likely as smartphones and tablets dominate buying patterns.Satya Nadella aims to focus Microsoft on becoming a devices and services company, expanding Microsoft's software offerings – notably to the iPad with Office – and increasing the focus on hardware and, unsurprisingly, devices (including Internet of Things), filing patents for smartwatches and unveiling the Surface Pro 3, a direct competitor to both laptops and tablets, which Microsoft expects to be the pinnacle of Windows 8.1.

  In Depth: Microsofts future under Satya Nadella: a very different, braver company