Date: 04-24-2008
Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software architect, recently issued a memo to employees related to the company’s most ambitious venture ever, a data storage and web operating system called Live Mesh. Live Mesh is Microsoft’s late entry into the rapidly growing “cloud computing” market. Cloud computing refers to the movement of software applications and services from PCs to centralized data centers that deliver the services via the web. Microsoft’s new strategy is being referred to by Ozzie as “software plus services.” Ozzie further stated that the 3 Cs — content, commerce, and community — have changed considerably. “More than two years ago when I wrote the memo entitled The Internet Services Disruption, much of the company was still focused on bringing our Office 2007 and Vista products to market,” Ozzie said. “Aside from MSN, IE/IIS, and our tools groups, it was truly 'software,' not 'services,' that was top of mind.” But Ozzie now argues that it is time for the company to welcome a new reality: “The Web is the hub of our social mesh and our device mesh.”
