Ballmer announces two candidates for Ozzie position

The names will surprise you. Or maybe not.

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Microsoft Live Meeting outage–that’s gotta hurt

Microsoft Live Meeting went bust today.

I know this because a partner event was cancelled this morning because of technical difficulties.

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Ray Ozzie leaving Microsoft gig

Ray Ozzie is leaving his post at Microsoft, company CEO Steve Ballmer said today.

In a memo to staff posted to the company’s Web site, Ballmer wrote: 

“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. 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.”

 

Ozzie was named Bill Gates successor as chief software architect and strategist  nearly five years ago but his visibility diminished over the past year or so after the Windows Azure effort moved over to Bob Muglia. Even before that, when he was tasked with Microsoft’s mammoth cloud transition project, it was unclear how much muscle he really had within Microsoft’s famously contentious product groups when none of the group leads reported to him. Many said that structure was bound to fail.

Ozzie will stay at Microsoft during a transition–the length of which was not specified. And, ”before he retires from Microsoft, Ray will be focusing his efforts in the broader area of entertainment where Microsoft has many ongoing investments,” Ballmer wrote.

Microsoft will not name a new chief software architect, Ballmer said.

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Sun VARs get (temporary) reprieve from Oracle

Sun VARs have been given another two weeks aboard the Oracle partner program to close deals before losing their ability to do so. Continued »

Beware of sharing, beware of Facebook

Granted, Facebook is addictive. Especially the Scrabulous/Scrabble part which is what got me hooked. For many others,  Zynga’s FarmVille, Mafia Wars game portfolio is the original hook. And for those people–there’s a rude awakening. Without knowing it, they have “overshared” their data. Continued »

Autodesk draws on simulation for channel sales training

When you consider that the average IT solution provider supports easily a dozen different vendor relationships, all the sales training that blossoms out of those contracts must blur together. Interested in capturing more channel mindshare, Autodesk has taken a more unique approach to its channel education: business simulations that were designed by BTS. Continued »

Microsoft-Citrix V-alliance push piggybacks on VMworld Europe

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As we all know, VMworld Europe is all  about Microsoft and Citrix. Or so say Microsoft and Citrix.

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Windows 7 phone reviews mixed, but everyone loves the ad

After so much build up that no one really seemed to care about a launch event, Microsoft finally launched Windows 7 Phone Monday in  New York. And sooprise, sooprise, there were some good reviews. Continued »

What innovations are spurring opportunities for solution providers? Some insight.

I had the good fortune to travel to Los Angeles last week for a visit with the attendees of distributor Arrow’s annual Net@Work conference. Ostensibly, I was there to give a presentation, “The Entrepreneurial Enterprise,” which focused on technology trends that are spurring big-business innovation. But I was actually able to use that presentation as an information-gathering exercise, thanks to some interactive audience polling technology, and I wanted to share some of those findings.

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Thank heaven (or the cloud) for IT budget growth

Finally, a ray of sunshine for solution providers suffering from lackluster corporate IT budgets. For the first time in three years, companies are reporting an increased budget for technology expenses in 2011, according to a Corporate Executive Board survey that’s set for publication at the end of October.

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