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Ray Ozzie To Step Down From His Role At Microsoft

Posted by Soulskill on from the is-this-the-extinguish-part dept.

denobug writes "Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, is stepping down. He is to remain with Microsoft until he retires, focusing his efforts 'in the broader area of entertainment where Microsoft has many ongoing investments,' based on a memo from Steve Ballmer. Also according to Steve's memo, the role of CSA was unique and it will not be filled."

8 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, is stepping down.

    When did he step up exactly? He brought in Groove, which was another attempt to recreate notes within office, then fucked up live mesh trying to make it another Groove. He had little to do with Azure, didn't talk much at company meetings, didn't inspire, didn't do anything. Don't let the door slam your ass on the way out Ray

    1. Re:Huh by PCM2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      He had little to do with Azure, didn't talk much at company meetings, didn't inspire, didn't do anything.

      You sure about that? According to Wired , Ozzie had everything to do with Azure, and spent his first two years on the job reorganizing the company to produce a services platform for the Web. He's quite clear about his intentions and the direction he was pushing the company in his original memo to Microsoft senior management, which was sent out under Bill Gates's email address. And longtime Microsoft observer Mary-Jo Foley says:

      As I discovered during the course of my Red Dog meetings, Ozzie was anything but uninvolved in Red Dog and Azure. In fact, I heard from team members time and time again, without Ozzie’s oversight and direct intervention, Red Dog and the broader Azure platform wouldn’t have come together as quickly or comprehensively as they did.

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      Breakfast served all day!
    2. Re:Huh by Shemmie · · Score: 2, Informative

      .... fucked up live mesh

      What I count as fucking up Live Mesh is the neutering it received between beta and "Oh Christ, we'll rename Live Sync 'Live Mesh' because people like the name. It's not that they like the product - oh no" - as the outcry when it was announced proves.

      Was it Ozzie who did decided to cripple a fantastic product, and turn it into the steaming pile Live Mesh 2011 is? I'm honestly curious - I'd love to know who had the vision to create the original MOE.

  2. Re:Let me entertain you by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, you can always do what I'm doing and just install the MacOS on a well-made Win7 machine. Then dual-boot when you have to.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  3. Re:End of Azure by bonch · · Score: 2, Informative

    * Windows has been steadily improving since Bill Gates left the helm. The last vestige of Gates' impact was seen in Office 2007 and Windows Vista, both of which were horrible.

    Steadily improving?! The Vista debacle happened under Ballmer. Why do you attribute it to Bill Gates?

    * Stability, scalability, usability - name it, it's improved since Gates left and Balmer took over.

    Some examples would be nice.

    Xbox was a huge fail; Xbox 360, on the other hand (while having been released under Gates and not doing that well during that time) has seen steady improvements over it's long life - and is still considered 'premiere' by many after 5 long years (since when, the PS3 and Wii have been released - to limited impact).

    360 has been the same money-loser as the original. Have you forgotten the red ring of death debacle, which happened under Ballmer? You seem to think "steady improvements" is going to keep Microsoft on the edge of technology.

    Sharepoint, while it sucks giant donkey cock and is the bane of my existence, has become quite the beast, seemingly being the preferred choice for any sort of corporate extranet deployment/content management system. It is better than most of its competition at substantially lower prices.

    "This sucks and I hate it, which means Ballmer is good."

  4. Re:Ray's Real Job by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 2, Informative

    God! is there nothing about Microsoft that is not some sad, hollow sham?

    Xbox 360/Live/Kinect, Zune, Windows 7, Live Essentials, MS Office, SkyDrive... ? Should I keep going?

  5. Re:Ray's Real Job by GigaplexNZ · · Score: 2, Informative

    Notepad still has issues with something as basic as line ending characters.

  6. Re:Ray's Real Job by Eskarel · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's not actually an issue with notepad.

    It has to do with two different methods being equally correct in the standard. Microsoft requires both a carriage return and a linefeed(just like a typewriter), Unix only uses a linefeed. Which one you think is more correct is really a matter of opinion as both are fully correct according to the ISO standard. Historically there were reasons for the combo pair, and the ANSI standard requires it, but it is rather an anachronism in this day and age.