Redmond, Washington — In a surprise move, Microsoft Corp.’s software chief “Ray Ozzie,” the technical visionary who was appointed to galvanize Microsoft’s attempt to overhaul its business for the Internet era, is to leave the company after a brief transition, it was announced unexpectedly on Monday.
The move signals a new phase in Microsoft as it spreads its wings into cloud computing, which Ozzie championed, which raises questions about the company’s future technology direction, was announced in an e-mail to employees from CEO Steve Ballmer.
Ozzie is leaving after an unspecified transition period, expected to be several months. It also signals concrete control of the company’s direction under Ballmer.
The departure of Ray Ozzie, the chief technology officer at Microsoft, will shock many Microsoft watchers given his role in shifting the company’s focus to cloud computing. Photo: AP
“With our progress in services and the cloud now full speed ahead in all aspects of our business, Ray and I are announcing today Ray’s intention to step down from his role as chief software architect,” Ballmer said in the memo, which was posted to Microsoft’s Web site. “He will remain with the company as he transitions the teams and ongoing strategic projects within his organization–bringing the great innovations and great innovators he’s assembled into the groups driving our business. Following the natural transition time with his teams but before he retires from Microsoft, Ray will be focusing his efforts in the broader area of entertainment where Microsoft has many ongoing investments.”
Ozzie 54, who joined the company in 2005, and created many innovative application such as Lotus Notes email system early in his career, assigned the role of overseeing Microsoft’s software direction in 2006, will now step down as chief software architect and not be replaced in that role. Before he goes, he will divert his efforts on the entertainment business within Microsoft, the company said in a statement. Gates relinquished his daily responsibilities at the Redmond, Washington-based software giant in July 2008.
Two years ago, he had made a splash at the company, with his now-famous “Internet Services Disruption” memo, and introduced Microsoft’s cloud computing products, an area that Microsoft has said is its future and on which it plans to spend 90pc of its annual $9bn research budget on next year.
Ballmer, said of Ozzie that “both through inspiration and impact, he has been instrumental in our transition toward a software world now centered on services.”
Ozzie’s departure is likely to come as a shock to many Microsoft watchers given his role in shifting the company’s focus to cloud computing. He is just the latest in a string of high-level exodus from Microsoft. Business Division President Stephen Elop left Microsoft last month to become CEO of Nokia, while Entertainment and Devices unit president Robbie Bach announced in the spring his plans to leave. (Bach has not left Microsoft’s employ as yet, but is expected to leave later this fall.)
Microsoft said it has no plans to fill the chief software architect role.