The view from Bill Gates: How his friend Ray fits in at Redmond
Bill Gates, cofounder and chief software architect of Microsoft Corp., e-mailed Globe technology writer Robert Weisman with these responses to questions about Ray Ozzie, the Groove Networks founder who is now Microsoft's chief technical officer.
1) What does Ray Ozzie bring to Microsoft's organization and strategic thinking?
Our industry is defined by incredible people who have a vision and the drive to make it a reality. Ray is one of those people. He did it with Symphony, Notes, Groove, and now he's bringing to Microsoft his scenario-based approach to the development of software and services. Ray's a world-class engineer, but perhaps most importantly he focuses on what people want to accomplish and then envisions the types of technologies that can make it happen. It's this type of end-to-end thinking, combined with an emphasis on simplicity and clarity, which makes Ray such a great asset to Microsoft.
2) How hard is it for an outsider, especially in a technology role, to drive change at Microsoft?
Ray has never really been an outsider. Even when he was developing Notes, he was helping us improve Windows. Moreover, Ray is super well-respected inside Microsoft, just as he is throughout the industry. We're an unusual company in that there are just a few key people that span our three major businesses -- me, Ray, Craig Mundie, and David Vaskevitch. Our product groups can remain heads down thinking about their particular businesses, while welcoming the broader guidance and perspective the four of us can provide. Everyone has responded very positively to Ray because of his scenario-based, storyboard approach to development. Not only is Ray very articulate and persuasive, but the developers appreciate the clarity of his process. As a result, he's able to influence our thinking across all of our businesses.
3) How do you and Ray relate personally? Is it fun for you to have a strong technologist like Ray on your team?
Because I have so much respect for him, having Ray on the team has been tremendous fun for me personally. I had said to Steve [Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer] for a long time that Ray was the best guy in the industry who didn't work for us. And Steve would always respond, ''Well, let's get him." That opportunity presented itself a year ago, and now Ray has the opportunity to make many more positive contributions inside Microsoft than when he worked at Iris, Lotus, or Groove. I always thought we had a great relationship when he worked at those other companies, and that relationship has gotten even stronger this past year as we've worked together on our software and services initiatives.
