Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella (pictured) got the collaborative party started at Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, Florida, on Monday with the news that his company would form an Open Data Initiative in partnership with Adobe Systems Inc. and SAP. The initiative is designed to facilitate an easier exchange of data between the three companies’ various enterprise products.

“It was the biggest news out of Satya Nadella’s keynote this morning,” said Stu Miniman (@stu), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. “As of right now, it’s a good move by some very strong players.”

Miniman was joined at the conference by co-host Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), and they discussed changes in the Microsoft culture since Nadella became CEO, messages from his keynote, and whether the company will extend its collaborative approach to public cloud competitors. (* Disclosure below.)

Embracing inclusivity and data sharing

Monday’s announcement reflected a continuation of the transformation that Microsoft has seen since Nadella took the helm in 2014. Industry analysts have noted how the company has shown a greater willingness to embrace other communities in the tech space.

“It really is about this kinder, gentler Microsoft, which is all about inclusivity,” said Knight, while noting that the three companies will be encouraging customers to avoid a trend toward keeping valuable data in silos. “They are setting out to change that.”

Nadella also focused on the important role of building new technologies. “His catchword of the day was ‘techintensity,’ how we not only need to be adopting the latest and greatest technology, we also need to be building it,” Knight said. “It seems like he was doubling down on this idea that industry leaders need to be pushing boundaries in whatever industry they may be in.”

There are still limits to how far Microsoft may be willing to go in its collaborative spirit. The analysts noted that Nadella declined to extend an olive branch on Monday to Microsoft’s major competitors, despite a preference among enterprises for a multicloud infrastructure.

“I want to hear how Microsoft lives in that world,” Miniman said. “They can’t not partner with Amazon.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Microsoft Ignite event. (* Disclosure: Cohesity Inc. sponsored coverage of Microsoft Ignite, and some segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE are sponsored. Sponsors have no editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: Stu Miniman for SiliconANGLE