What Did Ray Ozzie Actually Do At Microsoft?

Departures at Microsoft

Meanwhile. Ozzie’s departure comes amid a bunch of recent departures including Gary Flake, Brad Lovering, Doug Purdy, Brad Allard, Robbie Bach, and Brad Abrams. What does this mean for Microsoft?

What it shows is that Microsoft, like most big companies, has its share of ills and moves that shake things up and cause inertia.

Indeed, I got it pretty straight from sources close to the situation that Gates personally courted IBM’s Grady Booch for the Microsoft CSA position before Ozzie. And Microsoft went back to Booch more than a year into Ozzie’s tenure to gauge his interest. And although he would not say exactly what position Microsoft courted him for, Java creator James Gosling said there was not enough dynamite available for him to take a job trying to work at Microsoft. The dynamite would be to blow up the dead wood.

Comparing his chances at succeeding in the role Ozzie took on, Gosling told eWEEK:

“The chance that they’d give me the necessary dynamite is even slimmer. From what I can tell, he left because he lost a power struggle with the Microsoft traditionalists. He seems to have been pointing them in the right direction. I’d be even more extreme, hence more likely to be rejected. Microsoft is moving closer to the grave. They need to rethink everything from the ground up. I’ve got some pretty strong opinions on what the right thing to do is.”

And while Gosling mentioned the use of dynamite, Booch, the last time he spoke of Microsoft’s ills, said he didn’t think even the famed emotional fix-it man Dr. Phil could cure what ails the company.

Not enough dynamite

Al Hilwa said of Ozzie, “He put together the initial cloud strategy but it transitioned from under him to the server and tools group. Before that he drove the ramp-up to cloud services overall. However, from a money making perspective these have not yet been the big money makers. I think overall the concept of a single overarching software architect is only really applicable if a company is playing in a single domain. For example, he had no impact on the Xbox or gaming strategy nor to any noticeable degree on the mobile strategy. Microsoft plays in tens of IDC software markets, and any single person would be hard pressed to have a vision across a significant number of them.”

A leader of a prominent software company in the Windows ecosystem, who asked not to be identified, said, “Microsoft totally missed out on Search, Social networking and the Smartphone…. Ray was Chief….. Something has to give! It takes vision and leadership.”

Moreover, Mini-Microsoft delivers another solid salvo in his post, saying:

“I feel with Ray Ozzie’s departure that Steve Ballmer has finally asserted his complete control over the company. We’ve had some house cleaning this year, ranging from Mr. Ozzie to Mr. Bach & Mr. Allard to Technical Fellows to continued targeted layoffs. Perhaps this is due to the big, contemplative review Mr. Ballmer had with the Microsoft Board this year. Mr. Ballmer has hit the reset button. Do we have a Hail Mary pass, or is this Ballmer 2.0?”

Mini is on his game here. Because Ballmer is going nowhere. And those calling for an early exit for Ballmer or the impending death of Microsoft are mistaken. The only thing that would hasten Microsoft’s demise is if the company would promote COO Kevin Turner to CEO. Based on the word of many sources in the company, it appears he is reviled by the much of the rank and file and viewed, literally, vocally by some who have characterised him as an unimaginative cost-cutting bean counter. Promoting Turner, a rah-rah numbers man would be a mistake. And, should he ascend, the exits seen of late will look like nothing. If Turner takes over, it will be like the three blind mice, and we shall see how they run.