24 years ago, Wei Wuxian, who had extraordinary bones and extraordinary talents, developed peerless martial arts, and his martial arts reached the top of the Langya Ranking list at the age of 25. Ping Wangji, who also had the physique of a martial arts prodigy and was one year younger than him, was far behind him in combat prowess at that time.

However, Wei Wuxian, who has entered middle age, is deeply closed-minded and self-contained, unaware that the world has changed. As a result, not only did he give up the top spot, but he was also crushed by fellow members Gu Wuji, Ya Buhui, and Lian Hu Chong. Over the years, the one ranked No. 1 is Ping Wangji, who has a deep connection with Wei Wuxian.

Since then, Wei Wuxian has learned lessons, worked hard to make up for his shortcomings, and once again reached the top two on the Langya Ranking. At first, he fought back and forth with Ping Wangji, who was ranked first, for dozens of rounds, and most of the time he was at a disadvantage. It wasn't until later that he accidentally realized the samadhi of the "Future Sutra", and Wei Wuxian opened up the two channels of Ren and Du, activated the "God Blocks and Kills God" mode, and regained the top 1 position in the combat power list...

When you first heard this plot, did you think it was a cool novel in the Rebirth series? In fact, it is a cool article.

But if "Jianghu" is regarded as an allusion to the technology circle, then the male protagonist can really find the prototype in reality, and it is Microsoft.

Microsoft is a legend among "Silicon Valley legends" - even though it is not headquartered in Silicon Valley.

01 Windows-Intel

Jack Ma once set a vision for Alibaba to "live for 102 years." He hoped that its life cycle would span three centuries (1999 to 2101).

Why 102 instead of 502? Because companies in the digital age can easily be hit by Moore's Law and fall into "half-life lock-in." Management guru Gary Hamer said: The business system in the digital era no longer has the characteristics of "continuity". It is difficult for the Internet to create an everlasting company like oil or real estate giants that rely on a single business.

Looking at the history of global technology, there are very few technology companies that can continuously go through cycles and maintain a long-term momentum of prosperity. No one as strong as Microsoft can do it - before 2014, many people gave Microsoft a reprieve.

But the great thing about Microsoft is that it can ascend to the throne in one era, fall off the altar in the next era, and then regain the throne in the next era.

In the PC Internet era, Microsoft once dominated the world, and Windows and Intel were kings. In the mobile Internet era, the old king fell and a new king ascended the throne. The former corresponded to Microsoft and the latter corresponded to Apple; and in the AI era The curtain has just begun, and Microsoft has begun to dominate the world again. Microsoft and NVIDIA are stuck in the key points of AI and computing power.

Originally, people were familiar with the plot of kingship change in which "the old king fell and the new king ascended the throne", but "the old king suddenly changed and replaced the new king and became the next new king", which caught people somewhat off guard.

But it just happened. Since January 12, 2024, Microsoft's market value has continued to rise, surpassing Apple and regaining the throne of the world's largest company by market value. As of the close of trading on January 18, Microsoft's market value had reached US$2.92 trillion, while Apple's market value was US$2.89 trillion.

Microsoft's magical experience from prosperity to decline and then to prosperity may surprise many people:

20 years ago, many people, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, might not have imagined that Microsoft, whose market value had exceeded US$600 billion as early as the turn of the century, would break through US$600 billion again nearly 18 years later. (October 20, 2017).

Ten years ago, many people may not have imagined that Microsoft, which was already regarded as a has-been giant at the time, could actually stand on the top of the wave again a few years later.

Thinking that Microsoft got Nokia's script, it staged the "Return of the King" drama, which surprised those who read "The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves in front, and the waves in front die on the beach": The second half of the sentence "Dare to Love" is also followed by Is there the second half of the sentence "Then he resurrected with full health and said to Hou Lang, 'You all give way'"?

Microsoft smiled at this: Look, I will only demonstrate it once.

02 History of Microsoft

Looking back, there are destined to be three landmark nodes in Microsoft's development history: 1975; 2000; 2014.

Microsoft was founded in 1975. The period from 1975 to 1999 was a period of rapid growth; the year 2000 was the peak moment, and the period from 2000 to 2013 was the period of decline; 2014 was the starting point of revival, and it has been in the period of revival since 2014.

Ten years ago, perhaps what Microsoft people most wanted to dream about was the millennium. The day before entering the 21st century (December 30, 1999), Microsoft's market capitalization reached US$661.6 billion. Although it had been dragged down by the antitrust investigation launched by the U.S. Congress against Microsoft that year, Microsoft still set a record for a listed company in human history. Highest market capitalization record.

For comparison, China's GDP in 1999 was US$1.09 trillion, and Apple's market value peaked in 2000 at US$20.3 billion.

Although IBM, Apple, and Lotus will take OS/2, MacOS, and Notes and say, "If you have the guts, don't copy them," they can't stop Microsoft from dominating the Windows system and Office software.

After Microsoft was so far ahead that "you couldn't see the enemy even with a telescope," 42-year-old Bill Gates handed over the CEO reins to Microsoft's No. 13 employee Steve Ballmer (now the NBA) in 2000. Clippers owner), he moved from the front to behind the scenes, turning his energy more to charity.

At first glance, Ballmer, who was once the hero of Microsoft's founding period, has managed the business very well: During his tenure, the number of Microsoft employees increased approximately three times, and annual revenue increased approximately four times (from the original approximately US$20 billion). later increased to US$78 billion), and profits increased by 10 times. Both the classic version of Windows 7 and Office 365, which was widely popular among small and medium-sized enterprises, were launched during that time.

▲Windows7 is recognized as the classic version of Windows.

But what followed was a steady decline in the stock price: when Ballmer announced his retirement within a year in August 2013, Microsoft's market value had evaporated to US$270 billion. Taking into account inflation and currency depreciation, this is equivalent to sliding down from the previous top floor to the B1 floor.

Annual revenue has nearly quadrupled, which seems okay, but compared with the exponential growth of Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, it is completely inadequate.

As early as 2006, comedian John Hodgman satirized Microsoft as an unlucky zombie company in a TV commercial. By 2013, "ancient memes" also appeared on the Chinese Internet: "-What's the difference between Weibo and Microsoft? -Time." To some extent, this also implies a disdain for Microsoft.

"It's a thing of the past" was the common view of many people in the American technology circle towards Microsoft at that time. Few people will think of Microsoft when deciding which company they belong to in the future.

03 Decline of Microsoft

Why did Microsoft turn from prosperity to decline like this?

Sometimes, the character of the person at the helm can determine the fate of the company.

When Ballmer was at the helm of Microsoft, Windows' market share was almost a monopoly. As long as a PC was sold on the market, Microsoft basically had to pay a "licensing fee." Based on this alone, Microsoft can earn tens of billions in revenue every year.

Reality has repeatedly proven that the past successful experience of a person who is successful in one era may be an obstacle to his success in the next era - because he will fall into path dependence and be unwilling to open a new path.

Ballmer thought he could win with Windows (a sure win), but he didn't know that times have changed. Users' Internet surfing tools have changed from PCs to iPhones and Android phones, and the PC operating system market has gradually reached its peak.

By the time Ballmer realized it, it was too late. Microsoft had missed out on search engines, smartphones, social networks and other trends one after another, and had become an insulator.

Although attempts were made to acquire Nokia, launch Windows Phone, and get involved in social services, they basically ended up wasting money and wasting money.

▲In July 2017, Microsoft stopped mainstream support services for Windows Phone 8.1, which was regarded as announcing the end of Windows Phone.

On the whole, being conservative, closed-minded, arrogant, and good at internal fighting are common external impressions of Microsoft during the Ballmer period.

It is said to be conservative because Microsoft almost missed the mobile Internet era and only followed the trend with minor innovations: Apple pushed iPod, Microsoft followed suit with Zune; Apple pushed iPad, Microsoft followed suit with Sruface tablet; Apple pushed iOS devices, and Microsoft followed suit with Windows Phone.

It was said to be closed because Microsoft was a firm opponent of open source at the time. Ballmer also firmly opposed the launch of a mobile version of Office out of concern about affecting PC shipments.

It was said that it was arrogant because Microsoft had a strong sense of "corporate pride" at the time. Ballmer had ridiculed Jobs and Apple several times - when the first iPhone was launched in 2007, Ballmer ridiculed that "the iPhone has no chance of entering the market. Maybe they can make a little money." In 2009, he also said that the iPhone was not a competitor to Windows Mobile and did not have the same potential as mobile phone operations controlled by Microsoft.

Satya Nadella, the third generation president of Microsoft, said: "There is a bad habit within Microsoft that people will not push themselves to move forward because we are complacent with the success we have achieved. We are now learning how to forget the past. Achievement."

It is said that it is good at internal fighting because Microsoft's mountainous doctrine was extremely serious at that time. There used to be a set of organizational charts of large Silicon Valley companies that were very popular on the Internet: Amazon is tightly organized and orderly, Google has a clear and complex structure, Facebook has a decentralized and flat structure, and Microsoft is rampant in hilltops.

▲At that time, Microsoft was well-known as a "big company with internal strife"

At that time, many people already believed that Microsoft, which was led into a dead end by Ballmer, was the next Kodak and Nokia.

04 Recovery of Microsoft

But after the third CEO Nadella took office, Microsoft quickly embarked on the road to recovery.

At present, when many people review the reasons for Microsoft's "ZTE", they will sum up several reasons such as one, two, three, four, and five. In my opinion, the first thing is "people" - although Nadella has just been rated by CNN Business The best CEO in 2023, but still the most undervalued corporate CEO in the past 10 years.

When Nadella took over Microsoft, Microsoft was a laggard and the company was fraught with internal strife. One of the most important things about Nadella's rise to power is that he doesn't take sides and only does things. He is a rare person in Microsoft who can "do bad things well without making other people angry."

Can Nadella take Microsoft back to the top? No one knew it at the time.

But the answer Nadella gave was that it took only 5 years to bring Microsoft back to the top; it took about 10 years to take Microsoft back to the top of the world's top companies in terms of market capitalization.

In the past five years, Microsoft's market value has successively surpassed Amazon, Google, etc., and by the end of 2018, its market value once exceeded Apple.

In June 2019, June 2021, and January 2024, Microsoft's market value exceeded US$1 trillion and US$2 trillion respectively, surpassing Apple and regaining the throne.

▲In January this year, Microsoft's market value once again surpassed Apple's for the first time in a long time, becoming the world's most valuable company.

Netflix founder Reed Hastings once lamented: "In the history of the technology industry, we have never seen other software companies recover so well after experiencing painful setbacks."

As Microsoft's largest individual shareholder, Ballmer has made a lot of money from this, and his net worth has soared to more than 130 billion US dollars.

So, what did Microsoft do right? Why can Nadella make Microsoft Great Again?

Nadella never plays up "Amazing! My Microsoft." Even after the market value reached the top again, in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek at Microsoft headquarters, he bluntly said, "I would feel sick if someone celebrated for our market value." He insisted that the company's market value "means nothing." He believes that any form of celebration is "the beginning of decline." Almost terrifyingly calm.

Microsoft executive Shelley Branstein said that the most distinctive thing about Nadella is that he "has never been arrogant."

Although it competes with Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc., Microsoft under Nadella has never used hostile slogans, but strives to expand itself in a competitive and cooperative relationship.

The secret of Microsoft's revival lies in Nadella's personality traits: he is humble and pragmatic, completely on the opposite side of arrogance and restlessness.

05 The End

Only when you are humble enough and pragmatic enough can you move towards innovation and openness. Innovation and openness are the keys to Nadella's drive to revitalize Microsoft.

In terms of innovation, Microsoft's growth engine in the past has long relied on its two major businesses, Windows and Office. Although these two businesses are still there, Microsoft has already had two new pillars: cloud computing; AI.

Ten years ago, almost all of Microsoft's businesses would revolve around the core Windows business, and new products were usually named in the form of "Windows+X", such as mobile phones called Windows Phone and cloud services called Windows Azure. After all, Windows is Microsoft's biggest "cash cow."

After Nadella took office, he conducted a "system reset" for Microsoft: he used cloud business to reshape Microsoft, developed AI, and promoted "de-Windowsization."

Driven by Nadella, Microsoft ushered in a clear strategic shift after 2014. The core business focus became "cloud, cloud, cloud." Microsoft also changed from a software giant to a leading computing engine enterprise. In 2018, Microsoft directly terminated the previous core Windows department and split it into two teams, Azure and Office.

Thanks to its "cloud first" strategy and heavy investment, Microsoft's cloud services are gaining momentum. Whether it is the continuous upgrade of its cloud service platform Azure or the transformation of Office into a productivity software suite after being loaded with cloud services, its "cloud genes" are constantly highlighted.

In the third quarter of 2023, Microsoft's global cloud service market share increased to 23%. Although it is still far behind Amazon, the leader in the cloud service market, it has secured second place, and now the advantages of intelligent cloud are constantly emerging.

AI is also an important focus of Microsoft. Speaking of this, the first thing many people think of is "Microsoft Xiaoice".

But Microsoft's AI is far more than just XiaoIce. As early as 2016, Microsoft Research Asia first proposed the ResNet structure for image recognition, with a recognition rate of more than 90%. In 2017, Microsoft improved the neural network acoustics and language model of the speech recognition system, reducing the error rate to 5.1%.It's just that the "friendly business" Google is so dazzling that it has been covered up by the "frequency domain masking effect".

Of course, Nadella also made a big bet on the MR headset HoloLens and burned money on the gaming platform Xbox. It was considered a bet on the metaverse and games, but he did not get the expected returns. But innovation does not exclude trial and error. It can make corrections and adjustments in a timely manner based on feedback. Those truly rigid companies often lack the ability to correct errors.

In terms of openness, whether it is cooperating more with Apple, Amazon, Google, etc., going to open source, or investing in OpenAI, these are all manifestations of Microsoft's open mind.

Microsoft has previously been "dead rivals" with Apple, Amazon, Google, etc. Under the "Windows first" strategy, Microsoft has been reluctant to launch Office versions for iOS and Android systems.

But Nadella changed his attitude of decoupling and gave up Nokia, which Ballmer spent US$7.8 billion to acquire. He avoided direct competition with Apple and Google in the mobile phone field and instead launched Office that is adapted to iOS and Android systems. This resulted in the "porting" of iOS and Android applications to the Windows platform.

Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of business software giant Salesforce, said: "Microsoft has paid a heavy price for its arrogance. After Nadella took the helm, Microsoft has become more open when it comes to cooperation with other companies. "

Microsoft has been an opponent of the open source movement before - "Fortune" magazine once mentioned that Nat Friedman and Miguel de Icaza, the "golden boys" of the Silicon Valley open source movement, once suggested to Microsoft that Windows and the Internet Programs such as Explorer were improved through open source, but were rejected by Microsoft. They later established the Xamarin company to challenge Microsoft.

By February 2016, Nadella brought Xararin under Microsoft. Nat Friedman said: This is incredible, "Microsoft has been an opponent of open source for a long time, and now, I want to say that among many large technology companies, Microsoft is the pioneer of change. . This is a huge change.”

Microsoft's open attitude is also reflected in the development of AI: it not only develops AI itself, but also "empowers" OpenAI. Relying on an open mind, Microsoft has overtaken Google's competition in the AI field and has become the biggest winner in this round of technology explosion. Microsoft Copilot is now directly leading the process of commercial application of generative AI.

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