The ascension of Satya Nadella at Microsoft means the company can, at long last, move on after a years of strategic missteps. Right?

Perhaps. But first ask whether the errors have been so grave. Its shares are up 35 per cent in a year. Over a decade, their total return matches tech companies generally. Revenues and profits have grown in the high single digits annually during that period. Not easy, starting from a dominant position.

Mr Nadella’s first challenge, then, will be marketing, not operations. Investors itching for a break-up need a more compelling vision of Microsoft’s structure. Wall Street wonders, with reason, how operating systems and office software for home and business, mobile devices, cloud computing, games, search and Skype all fit together.