Microsoft and Big Data

Is Microsoft Putting Big Data At The Heart Of Their Business? – Data Science Central, by Bernard Marr.

" ... It is now angling to become a key player in big data, too – offering a suite of services and tools including data hosting and analytics services based on Hadoop to businesses.

But Microsoft had a substantial head-start over the competition – in fact their first forays into the world of big data started way before even the first version of MS-DOS. Gates and Allen’s first business venture, two years before Microsoft, a service providing real-time reports for traffic engineers using data from roadside traffic counters. It’s clear that the founders of what would grow into the world’s biggest software company knew how important information (specifically, getting the right information to the right people, at the right time) would become in the digital age.   ... " 

Seeing more evidence of this, those that have or can sculpt the data, can develop or buy the analytics capabilities.