Will Microsoft's 'Productivity' Mantra Prove Counterproductive?

Steve Ballmer hailed from Detroit, the son of an automotive industry exec, and forever carried with him that “Buy American” mentality. It’s why Microsoft’s executives were only allowed to toy around with rivals’ smartphones for a couple of days. You could have a peek and that’s it. Microsoft people used Microsoft phones. Such was the natural order of things.

The order has changed with the arrival of Satya Nadella as chief executive. His top lieutenants can tote whatever devices they want for as long as they want. They can—if you’ll believe it—even use these rival phones in public. It’s a small but significant change and one that, executives say in private, would have been impossible under Ballmer.