Microsoft’s Big-Data Angle: Office as a Friendly Front-End | Re/code

More evidence Microsoft is redoubling its focus on fundamentals

"Filter out the big-data buzzwords, and what Nadella is saying is pretty simple. The Internet of Things produces massive quantities of raw information. Microsoft wants to mine that information for actionable business insights. And because the company controls a popular big-data back end in SQL, Azure and Hadoop and an equally popular front end in Office, it’s in prime position to do just that.

“We want our users to be able to reason over all their data, no matter where it lives,” Nadella said. “And one way we’re doing that is with Office. Think of Office as a canvas or scaffolding from which users can access all their data.”"

Microsoft’s Big-Data Angle: Office as a Friendly Front-End | Re/code