Ray Ozzie's Departing Memo a Warning To Microsoft

itwbennett writes "In a parting memo to Microsoft, Ray Ozzie urges Microsoft to 'really, truly, seriously start thinking beyond the PC,' writes blogger Chris Nurney. Nurney suspects that 'Ozzie has been making these points internally for some time,' and that the memo 'could be his way of putting it in the public record.' Some of the memo's juicy bits: 'It's important that all of us do precisely what our competitors and customers will ultimately do: close our eyes and form a realistic picture of what a post-PC world might actually look like, if it were to ever truly occur. ... Today's PCs, phones & pads are just the very beginning; we'll see decades to come of incredible innovation from which will emerge all sorts of "connected companions" that we'll wear, we'll carry, we'll use on our desks & walls and the environment all around us.'"

Comments

Re:MS is doing that

[Archangel Michael]

When Ray says "Beyond the PC" what he's really saying is "beyond Windows OS".

This has been Microsoft's greatest nemesis, is their own myopia. They view everything with the tinged glasses of Windows. You can see this with Windows Mobile 7, even if it isn't "Windows" is trying to leverage "Windows 7" branding.

Specifically addressing what you're saying, the problem with Courier was that it was Kindle wannabe. They kept the book format when quite frankly it shouldn't have. Try turning the page with one hand. The KindleApp for iPad is even better than Kindle. And it is more useful than any standalone ebook reader.

Which brings me to tablets: If Microsoft makes a tablet that isn't some bastardized copy of Windows, I'll take a look. Until then, no thank you. Buying an overpriced one use computing device to me seem silly, and trying to shoehorn Windows into a tablet type device is just as pointless.

Apple gets all of this. Apple is no longer just a "computer company" and is branching out and fixing all the other related edges of technology that has been hamstrung by companies like Microsoft and their limited thinking. Apple is not just Macs any more, and that is a big reason they are the new Microsoft, and #2 in Market Cap, possibly getting to #1 next year sometime.

Where would we be without Microsoft?

[kawabago]

A lot further ahead! Better computer security, fewer viral plagues, faster software, more open standards, better interoperability, cheaper software and support. Microsoft is just a drain on the economy that we can't afford in this economic climate, just ask the London Stock Exchange.

Management, culture or people?

[swb]

Or all of the above?

I sometimes wonder if MS senior management isn't full of guys making good money, looking at how much time they have until retirement is a real option and thinking "If we can just string this Windows/PC model along for a couple more years, I'll be set. Retire in my late 50s. Second home (or boat or ....) paid for. Enough savings to live off until 401k money kicks in."

I can see where it could almost become a cultural mindset, coupled with a financial analysis that says the "real money" comes from Windows, Office, Exchange & SQL. Everything else (phone, tables, hardware, software, etc) is a half-assed feint to keep Wall St. quiet, keep key industry experts locked into long employment contracts and out of the hands of competitors, and occasionally hit the lottery when something sticks to the wall.

Or is it the actual management model? Keep the Windows/Office core profit engine running, fuck around on the margin and assume you can manipulate the market enough to keep your dominance forever?

Can anyone at MS write in English?

[eikonos]

I haven't finished reading Ray Ozzie's memo yet, but it's written in the same sort of tortured English I've seen from a lot of people at Microsoft. I don't know why they can't write clearly, or why they need to include the word "innovation" so many times, but I suspect it reflects the corporate culture. One particular sentence jumped out at me. This sentence includes the word "innovation" and is full of big words, and yet nearly empty of meaning.

"We’ve seen agile innovation playing out before a backdrop in which many dramatic changes have occurred across all aspects of our industry’s core infrastructure."

It's a boring sentence trapped in a boring, verbose memo, so I found it a new home in a Philip K Dick story:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. I watched agile innovation playing out before a backdrop in which many dramatic changes have occurred. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. [pause] Time to die."