In an across-the-board keynote address at Microsoft's 20th annual TechEd North America conference on Monday, Satya Nadella - president of Microsoft Server and Tools Business - chiefly tried to attract the attention of IT managers to the company's Windows operating system, pitching it as the best OS for building clouds.

The keynote address clearly underscored Microsoft's attempts to position Windows Server 2012, Windows Azure and server-side products as the most notable components of what, according to the company, will be "the era of the cloud OS."