You have probably now seen Ray Ozzie's "Dawn of a New Day" departure memo.
http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/If I were a Microsoft employee, I would be thinking “Ray that is a very interesting vision of the future. But what do we do?”
Ray's article focuses on Continuous Services (purely web-based ala Google) and Connected Devices /Services (Cell Phones, Tablets, Android, iPhone, Facebook, Twitter). And although it is true that Microsoft is not the leader in these areas, he implies that Microsoft will perish if it does not get there soon.
He is saying that Microsoft needs to bridge the gap from a PC-centric world to a Software + Services World - but how?
Here’s how to do it without upsetting the accountants:
1. Focus on connecting existing Microsoft products with the cloud before developing new applications. Microsoft’ client-centric products reside on 90% of the world’s desktops...start there.
2. Offer a recurring revenue model for any software.
3. Build a Microsoft App store.
a. This must differentiate itself from all other app stores. Instead of copying the industry model, the Microsoft App store can install any Microsoft or 3rd party apps to a mobilized platform that resides at the client, communicates with the Cloud, and runs disconnected.
4. Tightly integrate user files with the applications, accessed via a single sign on.
An AllenPort partnership with Microsoft can address these issues immediately. Here is what our existing service can provide.
1. The ability to deliver Microsoft Applications in a secure environment to the desktop. The user experience for Microsoft applications must change from a single PC installation to that which follows the user to any PC or device.
2. A secure licensing model for Microsoft Applications so they are on a per user / per month basis. This can be done with SPLA.
3. A secure “My Documents” type environment that follows the user to any client.
4. A model that supports the existing Microsoft channel partners and resellers.
5. A “Microsoft App Store” with co-branding for the hosting or reseller partner.
6. A single sign-on capability for the entire Cloud-Client environment.
Continuing to build this platform can not only bridge the gap which Ray identifies, but can be a game changer for Microsoft, allowing it to leap-frog over the “web based” providers. AllenPort provides this capability for Microsoft now.
A few notable quotes from Ray:
“To deliver what seems to be required – e.g. an amazing level of coherence across apps, services and devices – will require innovation in user experience, interaction model, authentication model, user data & privacy model, policy & management model, programming & application model, and so on. These platform innovations will happen in small, progressive steps, providing significant opportunity to lead. In adapting our strategies, tactics, plans & processes to deliver what’s required by this new world, the opportunity is simply huge”.
“Complexity kills. Complexity sucks the life out of users, developers and IT. Complexity makes products difficult to plan, build, test and use. Complexity introduces security challenges. Complexity causes administrator frustration”.
“Our personal and corporate data now sits within these [Cloud] services – and as a result we’re more and more concerned with issues of trust & privacy. We most commonly engage and interact with these internet-based sites & services through the browser. But increasingly, we also interact with these continuous services through apps that are loaded onto a broad variety of service-connected devices – on our desks, or in our pockets & pocketbooks”.
Ray’s next comment articulates part of the problem but still does not offer a clear way forward for Microsoft. In fact, it points out the tremendous dilemma management must have given that Microsoft's revenue and profits primarily come from server software, MS Office and Windows.…
"For the most part, we’ve grown to perceive of ‘computing’ as being equated with specific familiar ‘artifacts’ such as the ‘computer’, the ‘program’ that’s installed on a computer, and the ‘files’ that are stored on that computer’s ‘desktop’. For the majority of users, the PC is largely indistinguishable even from the ‘browser’ or ‘internet’. As such, it’s difficult for many of us to even imagine that this could ever change."
The PCs problem is not that our personal data (files and software) is local and now needs to live in the “Cloud”. Instead, the problem is that the data is tied to that single machine or device, and does not easily move from PC to PC or device to device. (This lack of mobility is further exacerbated by the Windows Operating System and its ability to enhance or restrict features of local apps). The Browser seemed a great solution at first, but until data is actually moved instead of simply viewed remotely, nothing much has changed. It is really just a client server model reborn with the browser at the periphery.
Microsoft already controls the client in most cases, and my generation and the next are fans and advocates of Microsoft’s local applications including MS Office and others. However, if Microsoft confuses the Cloud with browser based services, they will be lost. They must continue to develop the blurring of the Client with the Cloud, and assist partners with that transition. Competing with Google on their turf is a losing proposition and not the stuff of leaders.
Microsoft’s opportunity is truly huge and partnering with AllenPort will allow us to address these issues directly. We are looking forward to working with Microsoft and together taking a lead / dominant position in the client-cloud marketplace. Connecting the client and the cloud has finally arrived. With its ease of use and ability to deliver a whole range of apps locally, as well as leveraging the power of the client with cloud mobility, the AllenPort platform with Microsoft is a compelling proposition. Let’s make this happen together.
© Joel E. Allen 2010. All Rights Reserved
