Guess What? Microsoft's Baaaack!

SAN FRANCISCO – We interrupt this stream of Apple Watch coverage for an important announcement: Microsoft is back.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant wowed developers this week at its Build 2015 event. I'm not the type to use 'wowed' lightly. This was big. The series of announcements should put to rest all doubt as to whether Microsoft is becoming relevant again.

Microsoft's really back. Make no mistake about it.

What this means for consumers who've strolled past the Windows phones, tablets and PCs on their way to buy Android and Apple devices is that they will soon have a reason once again to stop and take a look. Because Windows will have all the latest apps too.

On the business side, IT managers who still deploy Windows client, development and cloud platforms should sleep better at night, secure in knowing that their budgets aren't going to waste because the lights are on again at Microsoft. The company is keeping up with the Joneses: Google and Apple, which are headquartered just a few dozen miles south of here. And, in some cases, it's even leading the way.

In one fell swoop, Microsoft obliterated just about every reason developers could think of for not bothering to write for Windows or Azure, the company's cloud platform. Is your code Linux-based? Not a problem it's now supported. Is it on a Mac? No worries, we've got that covered. Some of both? We can help there too. Plus, you can still add features over-and-above all that with Microsoft's Visual Studio suite of tools.

But what really brought down the house was when Microsoft showed developers they can bring all the code they've developed for iOS, Mac OS, Chrome and Android devices over to the world of Windows. The company claims that it's now stunningly simple to do. In fact, King has already done it with its Candy Crush Saga. Plus, Windows 10 adapts apps to whatever device they're running on, so developers don't need to worry about that.

Company executives also showed developers enough of their near- and long-term product plans to assure them Microsoft has some pretty cool, helpful and innovative tricks up their sleeve to stoke consumer demand. So they can be assured that more consumers will want Windows for some time to come.

Lastly, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tried to entice developers by pointing out that Windows is nearing 1 billion users, which is a big potential audience for their apps. So as easy as Microsoft has made it, why stop at Apple and Google platforms? Why not develop for Windows too?

That's hard to argue with. Indeed, it's such a can't-miss proposition that I can't help but wonder why Microsoft didn't deliver that same message at the Build event two-and-a-half years ago, when it unveiled Windows 8. At that forum, then-CEO Steve Ballmer made a similar -billion-Windows-devices argument. (Then, as now, the platform only had several hundred million more to go.) And he also pointed out that, in contrast to the dual-platform approach from Apple and Google, you only need to develop once for Windows and it will work across all devices, from smartphones to PCs.

But that's as far as he went. At the time, Microsoft assumed consumers would pay handsomely for the privilege of migrating to the new Windows. And they assumed that developers would rush headlong to write apps for it. Game over, right?

Right. But not the way Microsoft envisioned. In this Tale of Two Builds, the earlier event, which was held on Microsoft's rain-soaked suburban Seattle campus during a dreary week the fall of 2012, was the worst of times.

But that's now water under the bridge, so to speak.

The sunny San Francisco setting for this spring's Build is the developers' home turf, not One Microsoft Way (pun intended). This time, Microsoft gave the developers an offer they can't refuse. And they'll likely take Microsoft up on it. They'll bring their apps on over to Windows 10.

So yes, Microsoft is back.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Apple Watch news.

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies, a Scottsdale, Ariz., market strategy and analysis firm. You can reach him at mikef@feibustech.com.