Communications of the ACM
Ray Ozzie: Dawn of a New Day
Five years ago, having only recently arrived at the company, I wrote The Internet Services Disruption in order to kick off a major change management process across the company. In the opening section of that memo, I noted that about every five years our industry experiences what appears to be an inflection point that results in great turbulence and change.
In the wake of that memo, the last five years has been a time of great transformation for Microsoft. At this point we’re truly all in with regard to services. I’m incredibly proud of the people and the work that has been done across the company, and of the way that we've turned this services transformation into opportunities that will pay off for years to come.
In the realm of the service-centric "seamless OS" we’re well on the path to having Windows Live serve as an optional yet natural services complement to the Windows and Office software. In the realm of "seamless productivity," Office 365 and our 2010 Office, SharePoint and Live deliverables have shifted Office from being PC-centric toward now also robustly spanning the web and mobile. In "seamless entertainment," Xbox Live has transformed Xbox into a real-time, social, media-rich TV experience.
And in the realm of what I referred to as our "services platform," I couldn't be more proud of what's emerged as Windows Azure & SQL Azure. Inspired by little more than a memo, a few decks and discussions, intrapreneurial leaders stepped up to build and deliver an innovative service that, while still nascent, will over time prove to be transformational for the company and the industry.
From ozzie.net
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