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How did I get here? What led me to walk away from the hot team at Microsoft – Windows Azure, and even more interesting, leave Microsoft after 9+ years.
First, its important to note that most of the 9 years I spent at Microsoft were incredibly rewarding. I worked with some really smart and good people. And Microsoft is indeed a great company to work for.
So why leave? Well, first I need to get something off my chest – let me start with Innovation and R&D. Every year for the last 9 years, Microsoft executives remind all the employees, customers, partners, the world that they spend between $6 – 8 billion in R&D annually! Really? Now, I am not implying that there is a lack of innovation going on in the mildew forest (redmond); there are some really cool things like XBOX Live, Surface, .Net, Windows Azure, Live Mesh. But lets face it, Windows XP to Vista to Windows 7 (a Vista SP) over 9 years was not very innovative – especially now that I am using OS X! Windows Mobile Phone strategy? Search? Over $60 billion in R&D over 9 years – I can probably come up with a list 10 startups that had less then $300 million in funding in total that are more relevant today and innovative. …OK. I feel better now.
I mentioned being on the hot Windows Azure team, as well as listing it as innovative, and I still think there is some really cool technology there. Some of the best innovation in the last 9 years at Microsoft. Public PaaS Cloud is certainly innovative, interesting and very relevant to future deployment scenarios (not all, but some). But I started to question the overall “cloud” strategy and approach. I really think Azure technology should have first been introduced as a private cloud (on – premise) platform, enabling enterprises to build on their virtualization footing, and start with customized private PaaS. Then compliment that with a Public PaaS strategy that included ISPs and Partners and enable hybrid cloud scenarios. Instead, its sort of a huge leap for most enterprises to think about what workloads to build onto this primarily new and proprietary platform running in Microsoft Data Centers, and have a completely different perspective and approach to cloud patterns on-premise. Sorry, its not Hyper-V and Windows Server.
Then there is Ray Ozzie’s departure (not to mention all the other executives leaving to this day). Ozzie was the new Bill Gates at Microsoft. The “architect” of the new Microsoft and leading the transformation and vision for the cloud – the driving force and vision behind Azure. All of a sudden, while on the Azure team and coming to, Ozzie resigns! And then Ozzie writes his “Dawn of a New Day” . As I wrote in my blog post regarding the memo – Its a very interesting read and as one of my colleagues tweeted; “Shut the door, turn off your phone and read Ray Ozzie’s Dawn of a New Day” .
Anyway – my Azure bubble was popped. I was no longer a believer, nor passionate about the direction. There were other things that I wont go into, and there were also things that made me want to stick around – mostly some good people. I will absolutely treasure some of the work and people I was fortunate to work with – some of who are still at Microsoft. Keep up the good work!!!
I have found a renewed love for something from Microsoft that runs on the Mac – MacOffice 2011. Now, we just need OneNote on the Mac.
I am finding an incredibly rich, innovative, and very relevant approach and strategy at my new gig! With some incredibly compelling dialogue with enterprises regarding cloud. More on that on that later….
Are PC’s, and Windows going to be less significant in the next 5 years? Its certainly a scenario that I am sure many at Microsoft (and the industry) are arguably challenged with. More so today, then ever!
Yes, cloud computing is definitely becoming a disruptive force (in a positive way, I might add) in how we deliver and consume services today, as Ray Ozzie wrote about in his memo, The Internet Services Disruption, 5 years ago. But, I think the message, warning, and context Ray raises in his new memo today, Dawn of a New Day, 5 years later, is more relevant and I am sure has folks in Redmond and the industry talking about it.
I do not disagree, as I look into the future, I have to admit it looks less like just PC’s connecting to the cloud and services, but more about “connected devices” and “continuous services” that play out in our lives thru mobile phones, gaming consoles, TVs, iPads/Slates, cars, and other everyday devices that connect to the cloud.
Its a very interesting read and as one of my colleagues tweeted today; “Shut the door, turn off your phone and read Ray Ozzie’s Dawn of a New Day” .
I went to the 2008 Crunchies Ceremony, sponsored by TechCrunch last Friday in San Francisco. It was the second year for the awards and was packed with over 900 attendees. It turned out to be a good night for Windows Live as Windows Live Mesh won the “Best Technology Innovation/Achievment” and Ray Ozzie was there to accept the award. Here’s a link to some pictures from the event.
See my post back in April 2008 to learn more about Mesh with some good resource links.
Here is some of the press buzz:
- · CNET: “Microsoft’s Live Mesh Top Innovation at the Crunchies.”
- · CNET: “Winners and Losers from the Crunchies Awards.”
- · GigaOm: “Thank You for Making the Night of Crunchies Fun.”
- · TechCrunch: “Why We Put on the Crunchies.”
- · TechCrunch: “Congratulations to the Crunchies Winners.”
- · VentureBeat: “Winners of the 2008 Crunchies.”
- · ZDNet: “The Crunchies 2009”
We are quickly approaching Bill Gates last days at Microsoft. After the end of this month, Bill Gates is moving into full time philanthropy work at his foundation.
What an amazing life he has had, and what an amazing impact he has made, and continues to make!
Newsweek has an interesting piece this week on “Microsoft After Gates. (And Bill After Microsoft).
You will also find a great interview at Channel 9 on Bill Gates: Transitioning into the Future. Gates talks about his own decisions, the future of Think Week (FYI – BillG commented on a Think Week Paper my colleagues and I worked on; all I can say is WOW…factory), Quests and the role of Chief Software Architect (CSA). He happens to also mention that Ray Ozzie will be speaking at PDC (this fall) about services in the cloud and stuff they’ve been working on for 3 years. He also discuss Windows 7 as it relates to cloud computing. Interesting insights…
And in case you never watched the funny Microsoft video spoof about Bill Gates Last Days here it is on YouTube.
An interesting time for Microsoft…and its founder.
All the best to you BillG!
