Ozzie memo highlights Microsoft's moves

A memo written by Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie sheds more light on directions in which the company has been moving to make sure it doesn't miss the opportunity of the next generation of Web-based services, which industry analysts have dubbed Web 2.0.

Microsoft in recent months has shown that future versions of Windows and Office will support collaboration and personalized desktop services, based on a new business model leveraging ad sales and recurring services revenue that has turned rival Google into the darling of Wall Street.

Rather than reflect a sea change for Microsoft, Ozzie's memo , viewed by the IDG News Service last week, reinforces strategic moves the company has been slowly unfolding for several months.

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A memo written by Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie sheds more light on directions in which the company has been moving to make sure it doesn't miss the opportunity of the next generation of Web-based services, which industry analysts have dubbed Web 2.0.

Microsoft in recent months has shown that future versions of Windows and Office will support collaboration and personalized desktop services, based on a new business model leveraging ad sales and recurring services revenue that has turned rival Google into the darling of Wall Street.

Rather than reflect a sea change for Microsoft, Ozzie's memo , viewed by the IDG News Service last week, reinforces strategic moves the company has been slowly unfolding for several months.

The memo, part of an Oct. 30 e-mail sent by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates to Microsoft executives and engineers, proves that the company, which has shown a reluctance to let go of its software legacy, is ready to adapt to current industry changes.

Microsoft's challenge is to turn its successful software products into a seamless services platform - something Ozzie calls for in his memo.

For example, one of the key plans for the Microsoft Business Division, according to the memo, is to extend Office so it can easily connect to other applications.

Microsoft says it would make standard XML the default file format for the next version of the productivity suite, code-named Office 12, a move that could make it easier for other applications to communicate with Office for the creation of services.

"What should we do to bring Office's classic [Component Object Model]-based publish-and-subscribe capabilities to a world where RSS and XML have become the de facto publish-and-subscribe mechanisms?" Ozzie asks in a section of the memo that describes the notion of a connected office.

Microsoft also has revealed plans to include RSS as a thread running through multiple applications in the next version of its operating system, Windows Vista. scheduled to be available at the end of next year.

Ozzie also wrote that the company must focus on helping customers create, find and organize documents and data among all the desktops, devices, servers and services to which they have access.- Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.