While you were running Saturday errands, the world’s biggest software company celebrated its 40th birthday. Yes, seriously.上周六，当你于是以享用周末时，全球仅次于的软件公司正在庆典自己的40岁生日。In a letter sent to employees, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (still a technical advisor) predicts computing will evolve more quickly over the next decade than ever but is still too far out of reach for many people.在一封致员工的公开信中，微软公司牵头创始人、目前仍兼任该公司技术顾问的比尔o盖茨预计，计算机技术在今后十年的发展速度将比以往任何时候更加慢，但仍有许多人无法认识到它们。

“So I hope you will think about what you can do to make the power of technology accessible to everyone, to connect people to each other, and make personal computing available everywhere even as the very notion of what a PC delivers makes its way into all devices,” he wrote.盖茨写到：“所以我期望你们看看自己能做到些什么，来让科技的力量惠及每一个人，将人们网络一起，使个人计算出来普及到世界各地，正如个人电脑表达的观念影响了所有设备一样。”Of course, there are literally dozens if not hundreds of other companies—both large and small—that would love to solve that problem at Microsoft’s expense.似乎，只要微软公司不在乎损失，抢走坚信解决问题这个问题的大大小小的公司大有人在。

Mere toddlers like collaboration software upstart Slack, flirting with a $2 billion valuation, are challenging its dominance in productivity software.最年轻一代中的有刚成立几年的团队协作软件公司Slack，其估值早已很快超过20亿美元，以它为代表的这些新生力量正在挑战微软公司在生产力软件上的统治者地位。Twenty-something Amazon Web Services and teenager Google are making things tough in the data center realm. And despite itsexpensive Nokia investment, Microsoft can’t seem to get more people to trade in their Apple and Samsung smartphones.年纪大一些的有“20多岁”的亚马逊网络服务和“十几岁”的谷歌，它们让微软公司在数据中心业务上的处境日益艰苦。

尽管微软公司在诺基亚上投资高昂，但却无力制止更加多的人出售苹果和三星智能手机。As it enters its fifth decade, does Microsoft have the energy to combat competition on so many different fronts? That’s up to company’s third CEO, Satya Nadella. After spending his early days rightsizing the company (the last round of Microsoft’s biggest layoff ever was apparently completed last week), he is busy acting as different from his immediate predecessor, Steve Ballmer, as possible.随着微软公司转入第5个十年，它否还有精力多线登陆作战，在这么多的领域进行竞争？这各不相同该公司第三任首席执行官萨蒂亚o纳德纳。他离任之初之后开始优化公司规模（微软公司史上最大规模的裁员刚在上周已完成最后一轮），如今他正忙着实行改革，极力突显自己跟前任史蒂夫o鲍尔默的不同之处。That’s evidenced in Microsoft’s relationship with Box. “We’re seeing a different Microsoft, and customers are seeking a different Microsoft,” Box CEO Aaron Levie said during Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference last July.微软公司与Box的关系就反映了这一点。

Box公司首席执行官阿隆o列维在去年7月的《财富》科技头脑风暴大会上回应：“我们看见的是一个有所不同的微软公司，顾客也期望着一个有所不同的微软公司。”Nadella has already pulled off a few refreshing surprises. Consider the company’s $2.5 billion buyout of the wildly successful Minecraft developer last September or the January sneak peek at the company’s virtual reality interface, HoloLens.纳德纳早已带给了一些令人眼前一亮的惊艳。

微软公司在去年9月以25亿美元的价格并购了大获得顺利的游戏《我的世界》的开发商，又在今年1月公布了虚拟现实产品HoloLens。Officially speaking, the upcoming Windows 10 launch, which will be sold under a new subscription mode, will be the first big test of Nadella’s leadership. But in my mind, attracting and retaining the talent to keep Microsoft relevant throughout its fifth decade could be his biggest challenge as CEO. There’s a reason so many people are interested in the new book from Google’s human resources chief.根据官方众说纷纭，将要以全新订阅者模式发售的Window 10将不会是纳德纳领导能力面对的第一次考试成绩。

不过在我看来，在第五个十年里，如何更有和觅人才，进而维持微软公司的竞争力，才是纳德纳作为首席执行官面临的仅次于挑战。如此多的人对谷歌人力资源主管的新书感兴趣，是有原因的。Nadella’s misguided comments last fall about women in technology didn’t help. That’s why one of the most important strategic decisions early in his tenure came in November, when Nadella promoted Kathleen Hogan from a customer-facing role to run human resources.纳德纳去年秋天对科技界女性的失当言论，可帮不了他（他建议女性不要主动拒绝加薪）。

这也是他为什么要在任期之初的11月就作出一项尤为最重要的战略要求——将负责管理客户公关的凯瑟琳o霍根拔擢至人力资源部门兼任领导。Hogan’s resume includes leading the Microsoft services organization; she also was a developer at Oracle and a partner at consulting firm McKinsey. Her mandate: lead Microsoft’s cultural transformation and ensure “Microsoft remains the best, most inclusive place to work.”霍根曾是微软公司服务部门的负责人，还兼任过甲骨文的开发人员以及咨询公司麦肯锡的合伙人。她的任务是：领导微软公司的文化转型，确保“微软公司仍是最差、最不具包容性的工作场所”。

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