Right, to be perfectly honest I stopped reading this thread about 3/4's through the first page because I got bored and I wanted to go off and do other stuff. I've already thought about this a lot and I believe quite a few of you are misreading Satya Nadella and his intentions with Microsoft.
To put it bluntly, I firmly believe he's the best thing that's happened to Microsoft in a long time. He knows exactly where Microsoft's strengths lie and that's software development. Over the years and idiotic CEO's Microsoft has become a bloated, confused company that isn't sure if it's making software or hardware and in the end messes up making both. Nadella is stripping away everything that isn't working and taking Microsoft in a new direction that involves pushing Microsoft's services and software, because when focused Microsoft can make brilliant services and software.
Not only is he pushing Microsoft back to its roots (software), he's re-growing those roots. He's having Microsoft deviate from what Microsoft has done in the past (and the mistakes they've made) and towards where the money is: the mobile business. Nadella is perfectly aware that the mobile market is absolutely essential for success from a software developer's standpoint, and he also knows that what Microsoft was doing clearly wasn't working.
Windows Phone isn't dead, in fact far from it. Nadella isn't ending it, he's rebreathing life into. I'll be the first to agree that the way he went about it wasn't great, and that Nadella's weakness is quite obviously communication, but if you look a little deeper you can see the direction he's heading. For years Nokia (and now Microsoft) has absolutely dominated Windows Phone's market share, and you can imagine how intimidating this is for other OEM's. Why should a tiny OEM invest precious resources into making a phone for a market where the software developer dominates in hardware as well? Why should a large OEM like Samsung spend money competing with Microsoft when there clearly is no substantial profits to be made?
Instead of continuously polluting Windows Phone with Lumia after Lumia, Nadella is stripping back Microsoft's presence in the hardware market to only provide software. He's pushing the Universal Application model to persuade other software developers to provide the third-party applications, Continuum to persuade consumers to purchase Windows 10 Mobile, and the cohesive UI design to persuade both businesses and consumers to invest in Microsoft's platform. He's taken a truly desperate situation and done everything he possibly could, went to extents many CEO's wouldn't risk, and made decisions for the betterment of his company to try and save Windows Phone and soon Windows Mobile. No, it's not perfect, but it's certainly better than the last two CEO's.
Instead of this huge, bulky company that spouts out half-decent products over and over, Microsoft is evolving to become a brilliant and innovative software developer that supports its software with solid, well-built first-party devices. Windows 10 for PC is supported by the utterly fantastic Surface and Surface Pro line, Windows 10 Mobile is supported by the ever-improving Lumia line, and Xbox is supported by...well, Xbox. Microsoft is evolving from the sprawling, confused company of old to a efficient, mobile business perfect for today's ever-changing market.
Yeah, Windows Phone is in danger, but that's old news, isn't it? If anything, things are getting better. Be optimistic guys. We all know the Lumia line has been plagued with half-decent devices for a while now, and the Lumia 640 and 640XL is the sign of a new, slicker line of Lumias. Six phones? I'm good with that. If anything can save Windows Phone, it's this new plan of action. Windows 10 Mobile will be the greatest iteration of Windows Phone yet, I'm sure of that. Nadella isn't great at communication (seriously, he should hire a guy for that), but he's sure good at listening.