Gates Ushers Next Net Wave

Bill Gates, chairman, Microsoft Corp, has declared in a memo sent to senior executives late October, that the company must change its business to better compete with new competitors offering technology and services on the Internet. The memo was obtained by media outlets this week.

Gates' memo is reportedly worded, "The next sea change is upon us"; it acknowledges that the software giant is facing stiff competition from rivals, the likes of Google and Yahoo.
However sources reveal that the actual driving force behind Gates' concern might well be Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief technology officer.

Ray Ozzie, who struck digital gold in 1989 with his innovative "Lotus Notes", recently joined Gates' inner circle after Microsoft bought his Massachusetts-based company "Groove Networks".

On October 28th, Ozzie penned a memo to top execs of Microsoft, wherein he cautioned how the company is trailing behind rivals such as Google and Skype. Ozzie's memo said, "Just as in the past, we must reflect upon what's going on around us and respond. As much as ever, it's clear that if we fail to do so, our business as we know it, is at risk. We must respond quickly and decisively."

Apparently Gates heralded Ozzie's seven-page memo, as something of a manifesto for Microsoft. In an e-mail to top execs and engineers, he compared it to his own "Internet Tidal Wave" memo written 10 years ago. That rallying cry had helped produce the Internet Explorer Web browser, as a direct challenger to the then-dominant Netscape.

Gates' latest, much-hyped memo says, "I feel sure we will look back on Ozzie's memo as being as critical, as The Internet Tidal Wave memo was when it came out."

Source: techtree.com