Here’s food for thought. With all the hubbub of Microsoft’s (MSFT) bid for Yahoo! (YHOO), I can’t help but wonder: where in the world is Ray Ozzie?
Ray Ozzie is Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, a role he assumed after Bill Gates stepped down to focus on philanthropy (though he remains as Chairman of Microsoft). Ozzie’s claim to fame is being the founder of Lotus Notes, a client/server collaboration application that was once one of Microsoft’s chief competitors.
Although Ozzie isn’t a highly-visible executive in the media (at least in the publications I read), a lot of eyes turned to him since he became Bill Gates 2.0. In a leaked email way back in 2005 entitled, “The Internet Services Disruption” (which followed on the heels of a leaked email from Gates), Ozzie stated that (emphasis his):
Businesses are increasingly considering what services-based economics of scale might do to help them reduce infrastructure costs or deploy solutions as-needed and on subscription basis.
Most challenging and promising to our business, though, is that a new business model has emerged in the form of advertising-supported services and software.
Following this was a greater emphasis on MSN, the launch of Windows Live, and an array of related products. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s forays into online advertising have been, well, as good as knocking down airplanes with a fly swatter. So much for trying to execute on this new business model, huh? Looks like the next best thing is to buy a company that can execute better. Hellooo Yahoo!
Since Ozzie is the chief executive driving Microsoft’s march into the Internet space, I wonder why he hasn’t been mentioned in any of the stories about Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo!. I’m guessing he played a big part in this, whether it be in making the decision, or forcing the decision because he didn’t deliver with Microsoft Live…?
I’m totally speculating here. For all I know, maybe Microsoft elected Steve Ballmer to make the announcement so the bid would carry more weight. It’s still odd to me that Ozzie isn’t mentioned anywhere at all though. Or perhaps he just prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Even his own blog is pretty quiet. Hmm.
Ray is still here doing and dreaming big things
O rly? Care to say what kinds of big things? ;-)