It was announced today that Ray Ozzie, the Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, is leaving the company. In a memo to employees, Steve Balmer reported that he will be moving into the entertainment space. The only other person to have held this position is Bill Gates himself, and it has been announced they will not fill the position again.
Ozzie worked at Microsoft for only five years. As we all remember, he wrote his very influential memo on Internet Disruption. Since that time, he has been focusing primarily on Microsoft's cloud initiative. It is interesting to see him departing before that product has really been launched and taken off. For someone who saw this as the future of not only Microsoft, but for the IT industry, I am surprised to see him depart before his vision comes to fruition.
It makes me wonder if there are mixed thoughts on the future of the cloud, even at the highest levels of Microsoft. This could be the first evidence that the "three screens and a cloud" idea are not as simple, or realstic, as some have thought. Considering the stock dropped over 2% on the news, my guess is that many investors are also in doubt.
This is bit surprising for sure. Either it is Ozzie realizing that MSFT has missed the window (no pun intended) or that he feels the direction that the company is taking is not winning in his opinion. Or Ballmer rearranging the deck chairs on the Titannic? Three screens and the cloud seems a lofty goal but the proof is in the implementation and execution. May be the lead indicators are not encouraging.
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