LiveSide - News blog : Ray Ozzie

Ray Ozzie at the DLA Piper Tech Summit: Cloud Computing has “enormous potential”

Kip Kniskern — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:29:56 GMT

Speaking today at a keynote for the DLA Piper Tech Summit, Ray Ozzie tuned up his cloud computing mantra in preparation for next week’s PDC, by talking about the potential for the internet to speed up software usability. In a question and answer session with Fortune magazine’s David Kilpatrick, Ozzie spoke about the changing nature of the internet::

Ozzie said that cloud computing has enormous potential to speed up data exchange, software development, collaboration, and ultimately, software usability. “The Internet was created during an era of 56k modems and dial-up connections. As a software [developer] you balance what's on the back end with what's on the front end.” Whether bandwith is large or small is a challenge of perspective and application.

Ozzie promised appliance-like features for devices soon:

Devices, he said, will be “appliance-like” in the near future. “You'll buy one, log in, and the data you need will be there.”

We should be hearing more about Ozzie’s vision very very soon, with major announcements about Microsoft’s live services platform expected at PDC.

Red Dog: Ray Ozzie's answer to the Google App Engine?

Kip Kniskern — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:09:00 GMT

(Note: while we've been serving up a number of potential new Windows Live logos recently, this isn't one of them. I just happen to like Clifford the Big Red Dog)

Much has been made recently about last night's announcement of the Google App Engine, along with some discussion of the seeming lack of a counterpart coming from Microsoft. For those of you not accustomed to frequent visits to Techmeme, Google App Engine is, according to the Google App Engine Blog:

...a developer tool that enables you to run your web applications on Google's infrastructure. The goal is to make it easy to get started with a new web app, and then make it easy to scale when that app reaches the point where it's receiving significant traffic and has millions of users.
Google App Engine gives you access to the same building blocks that Google uses for its own applications, making it easier to build an application that runs reliably, even under heavy load and with large amounts of data. (...) Google App Engine packages these building blocks and takes care of the infrastructure stack, leaving you more time to focus on writing code and improving your application.

Amazon has a similar service, although perhaps not as neatly bundled, called EC2. So with all the talk from Microsoft about cloud services, what are they up to? Well we did a little digging, and although nothing specific has been announced yet (and we don't have a timetable), new set of services, part of Ray Ozzie's four layer platform of services, is indeed being readied. One of these, the Microsoft Utility Computing Platform, code named Red Dog, sounds very much like a platform for building a Google App Engine type service (except maybe quite a bit better). In a job posting for an SDET, the Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS) team has provided us with some of the juicy tidbits we found. The posting itself is a little dense, written to appeal to seasoned developers looking for new challenges. But to paraphrase a bit, here's what the (CIS) team is building with Red Dog:

an "efficient, virtualized" environment
a "fully automated service management system" (like the Google App Engine, you won't have to worry about managing the system)
on "highly scalable" storage services (you only use the storage you need)
the service will "scale to millions of machines" across Microsoft's data centers (geo-located, easy to maintain data centers, remember?)
"will lead the marketplace as the best platform for rapid development, deployment, and maintenance of internet services and applications"
SDK and tools will be included for external and internal customers
V1 for external customers in the coming year

We don't know a whole lot more about Red Dog at this point, or even, truthfully, how closely a go to market product will resemble the Google App Engine. But the job posting, along with some other indications, seem to point to a Microsoft response sometime "in the coming year". Clifford will be so happy.

Live Mesh Tech Preview gets funky Silverlight-esque logo

Chris — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:45:43 GMT

We just can't get enough of Ray Ozzie's latest project Live Mesh, so much so that when we saw what could be the current logo on the dogfood mobile login page, we just had to share. It reminds us of the Silverlight logo thanks to the use of that dazzling blue.

Unfortunately for those who are waiting for an invite to the Technology Preview, we heard there was a queue of softies waiting to get on the internal dogfood program when it was announced at Mix 08, so it could be a while yet.

(Note you can’t login to the mobile site if you can’t login to the main site.)

Ray Ozzie at Mix08 - Mesh, Horizon and FeedSync

Chris — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:07:00 GMT

So today at Mix08 Ray Ozzie went back to basics. If you compare the headings of his speech to that of his famous memo, there is a lot of common ground. So if you're an exec, how do you keep yourself entertained during these keynotes when repeating the same key concepts but can't start announcing product launches? Well Ozzie seems to have come up with an idea that we approve of, namely "how many unreleased product names / codenames can I fit in".

Mesh was the most obvious one by far yesterday, with several people picking up his constant references to it, see his speech notes linked above. Steve Clayton kindly highlighted the solitary mention of Horizon too, "As this product emerges just over the horizon". Given Steve is now working in this Software as a Service area, his one-line summary is pretty succinct and worth paying attention to: "...tech preview of a cloud sync service coming over the horizon"

So for all of you untrained in reading Ozzie, or conversely if you have done so too many times and actually want to see the goods (like we said, perfectionist), here's the LiveSide summary to what Ozzie said about:

Mesh (mesh.com)

- Device management, for example the reporting of location, centralised configuration and control,
- Unified data management (see below!)
- Unified application management and deployment via the web,

Horizon (mshorizon.com)

- Unified data management
- Synchronisation of files and folders across devices
-"The bi-directional synchronization of arbitrary feeds of all kinds across your devices and the Web, a kind of universal file synch." This should ring some bells - FeedSync anybody?

We often talk about the different "waves" of MSN and Windows Live services. What Ozzie talks about isn't some evolutionary update, this almost falls into the revolutionary category (its not out yet so no definites here). This is a "Wave X" compared to the "Wave 3" we're waiting on for Windows Live. Time to sit up and pay attention.

Let us know if you spotted any other codenames buried in the keynote and we'll add them in!

Ray Ozzie at Mix08

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:38:00 GMT

If you took the time to check out our feed sampler you may have already noticed the news that Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft and the successor to Bill Gates when he steps down from daily duties this July, has been added as a speaker at Mix08, to join the stage with Scott Guthrie. From the VisitMix blog:

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie joins Scott Guthrie on stage as a keynote speaker at MIX08 on Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Ray will discuss Microsoft’s continued investment across the platform to deliver world class Web technologies and tools.

We're excited to hear what Ozzie has to say, hopefully some new information besides the "services disruption" speech that he's been giving for two years, but we think there's a good chance that there will be some new news on the horizon. LiveSide will be attending Mix08 (courtesy of Microsoft and the Mix n Mash event, but with no strings attached, of course), so we'll be bringing you the latest from what is turning out to be the premiere event of the year for Microsoft and live services. Of course we'll be snooping around a bit, too, so stay tuned!

Notes on the Company Meeting

Kip Kniskern — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:15:00 GMT

The Microsoft Company Meeting was held on Wednesday (Sept 5) in Seattle, and along with paper airplane throwing, BillG's last company meeting, some stuff about busses, and the waving around of a phantom Zune, there was some interesting Windows Live information, as well.

(Before the black helicopters start circling the house, no I wasn't there. But you can glean some interesting information by going through Mini-Microsoft's comments, which is exactly what I just did)

Some Windows Live-ish information came from Ray Ozzie's speech, where he continued to prophesize the vision of the future of software + services. Still pretty high level, and the natives seem to be getting a bit restless as to how this is going to all play out, the general feeling from the Mini-Msft commenters was that Ray is a good guy, on the right track, and will be a good leader post BillG.

Then came the demos, and apparently things didn't go too well for Windows Live. Chris Jones demoed Windows Live Photo Gallery and the photo import tool, but since the photos had already apparently been imported once previously, they (by design) didn't import (again, but would have, if Jones had checked some boxes to select them). Jones reportedly didn't handle the whole thing too well, calling out the GPM of Photo Gallery onstage, which came across as embarrassing. A couple of snippets from Mini's comments:

This happened by design because Chris had already imported the images, probably in a walk-through prior to the demo. The checkboxes are checked when the app detects that the images have NOT already been imported from the camera. If the images HAVE already been imported the checkboxes are unchecked, and the app reports "no images to import" (although the images still are actually on the camera). The message should be "there are no images to import that you haven't already got on your system, and no, I haven't deleted them from your camera so don't worry". The sad thing is that this was a known issue, but blown off by the "we know better" gang in the DMX(?) team.

Maybe that Eric dude will point out to Chrisjo that in order to complete the photo importing action, he needed to check the boxes next to the groups of photos he defined. Which is retarded UI design, but it's not like the software had a bug. It was user error. Chrisjo came off looking a little silly. "Why can't I complete the operation? Eric?" When in fact he hadn't checked some check boxes. If I were that Eric dude, I would be embarrassed for Chrisjo, who came off looking like an air head.

The guy who Jones called out (something having to do with a white phone, go figure) actually responded in Mini as well:

I'm the Eric dude who Chris "railed" against in the demo. :-)

It was actually pretty funny, I thought. As the GPM of the team who built the Photo Gallery, I thought it was totally fair for him to give me a hard time when he hit a snag. It's true that it wasn't a bug per se - when you import stuff we are "smart" and don't import it again. This is most noticeable in demo scenarios where you've already imported before, but the wording of the wizard could be way clearer. It's tripped me up in demos too!

Anyway, I thought it was hilarious. My only regret is that I'm probably destined to be "white courtesy phone guy" for the rest of my career.

But what is most interesting in gleaning the Mini-Msft comments is how impressed the commenters were about the new Live Search demo. Here's some snippets:

Good ...
Search demo

The big surprise was the Live search (I think that's who) team's presentation -- they seem to be doing some real innovation, innovation that will likely provide real competition in the online space. (No, I don't work for Live, and have been pretty cynical about Live in the past). Color me impressed here, and possibly the high point of the meeting.

Search really impressed me. Selberg's people really did a good job, they're on the right path.

The new Live Search. It rocks!
- Ozzie's keynote. I hope this sends some groups scrambling to figure out their Live strategy.

I was extremely impressed with the changes in Search. Now can we get some marketing people to actually publicize the fact that we have a great service?

Erik Selberg was in Mountain View the other day eating sushi with Sanaz, and we expect to see them (we hope?!) on the 26th for Searchification (yes I'm making plans to go, and hope to bring you a whole bad motel, economy car, San Jose traffic, and Searchification expose!).

Windows Live at MGX

Chris — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:50:00 GMT

With all the fuss about a "leaked" powerpoint from the MGX conference (that gives a tentative date for Windows 7 of 2010,) you'd be forgiven for missing the few points made relating to Windows Live. Here's a couple of blog posts that caught our eye.

Ray Ozzie gave a keynote and showed again that he "‘gets’ what it means to be a software+services company." Windows Live Core, roaming profiles, datacenters, the list of what he may or may not have talked about goes on. (link)
Datacenters! Datacenters! Datacenters! Did we mention the importance of datacenters? (link)
The Windows Live sessions were full. Someone must have done a really good job. (link)
More love for Windows Live (link)

Sounds like those softies were getting excited about something; to bad nobody leaked a Search 2.0 powerpoint. Here's hoping Ozzie speaks again at the Financial Analysts Meeting which takes place later this week.

Live Search Product Manager interviews Blake Irving

Kip Kniskern — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 04:10:00 GMT

Farwan Thawar, a Product Manager for Live Search in Toronto, has posted a nice 3 part interview with Blake Irving, Corporate Vice President of Windows Live Platform.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

In the interview, Irving talks about the power of Microsoft's vast "audience" when it comes to monetizing services through advertising, demos some cool features of adCenter, notes that while it is an important component of life online, search only comprises 5% of page views. Blake and Farwan go on to talk more about search, Windows Live as a platform, and what Ray Ozzie means to Windows Live and to Microsoft.

It's nice to hear someone with a concise and positive message about what Windows Live is and where it's heading.

Good job, Farwan!

Mix 07 Set to begin: what to expect

Kip Kniskern — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:38:00 GMT

Mix 07, the Microsoft sponsored web developers conference in Las Vegas begins with registration tonight and the Ray Ozzie/Scott Guthrie keynote set for 9:30 PDT tomorrow (Monday April 30). So what to expect? Well lots of news and in depth coverage of a whole new set of APIs (application programming interfaces, a way for programmers to request services from a computer system or program that would otherwise be unavailable to them). New APIs have been announced for Virtual Earth/Live Maps, and for Spaces, and expect more to come from Live.com, Messenger, and others.

The big non-Windows Live news will of course be around Silverlight, formerly called WPF/e (Windows Presentation Foundation/everywhere), but Windows Live will be featured prominently, as well.

The Ray Ozzie keynote will be webcast live on Monday morning, we'll be watching and have a full report:

Ray Ozzie Keynote at MIX07
April 30, 2007
9:30 a.m. PDT / 12:30 p.m. EDT
In an address from Las Vegas at the MIX07 Web conference, Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and Developer division General Manager Scott Guthrie will discuss the full breadth of Microsoft’s developer vision and roadmap for Silverlight, Microsoft’s cross-platform application for delivering the next generation of media experiences.
View Live Webcast:

100K
300K
500K

In addition, many of the sessions will be webcast as well, you can check out the particulars at http://visitmix.com

Windows Live Core - the Software as a Service platform

Chris — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:09:00 GMT

While Ray Ozzie has been keeping details of his Software as a Service platform quiet, some small bits of information are emerging from other members on his team. Two of his direct reports, David Treadwell and Amitabh Srivastava are both listed as working on developing the next generation Live services platform known as Windows Live Core:

"This start-up effort will define the vision and create the implementation for cloud-based platform services that will allow the creation of compelling applications that make deep use of network-based information."

Other members of the Windows Live Core team that we've tracked down include David Cutler, who led the development of Windows, Abolade Gbadegesin, former architect of networking in Windows Vista and Elissa Murphy, Principal PM for Windows Live Core. This team has "joined Ray Ozzie to focus on next generation cloud services; to build an highly efficient computing fabric for Microsoft data centers and a services platform for agile development of high-quality cloud services." In a question and answer with financial analysts in February, Ozzie talked about how Google helped Microsoft change its thinking about services as a platform:

"In the Google case, what's fascinating to me is that although you can characterize Google as a search compete, there are two very significant things that happened at Microsoft [as a result]. One was the recognition of advertising as an economic engine," Ozzie said. "And the other was services-based infrastructure. Once the realization was made by different groups that every product would have a services component, you go back to the company's platform roots and figure out what kind of platform treats the services layer as a system."

As Srivastava's Microsoft Research page mentions, part of the work on the Windows Live Core Operating System is heavily focused on Microsoft data centers. James Hamilton, an architect on the Windows Live Core team, gave two presentations recently discussing module datacentres and how they can be used to provide economies of scale for Software as a Service. The idea of using commercial shipping containers to build high-scale datacenters seems rather unusual, however those working on the Ozzie team are the ideal candidates to innovatively solve these kinds of complex problems. The need for datacenters was highlighted by Ozzie in an interview early last year with Fortune, where he said that Microsoft must build a global network of server farms that will cost "staggering" amounts of money. For those who are saying that "Live is dead" this should serve as a reminder that Microsoft are investing heavily in online services and are serious about their future in this sector.

While the premise behind Windows Live Core is becoming clearer, there is certainly a lot more to be learnt. Whether Ray Ozzie provides more details at Mix07 is anybody's guess. We're unable to attend but will be following the events closely, and we'll be looking to our readers to send us the talk from the floor - drop us a comment below if you're planning on going and what you are hoping to see or hear.

OneCare malware detection update

Chris — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 04:55:00 GMT

There's been lots of talk about Windows Live OneCare in the last two weeks, particularly around its poor detection rate in some recent malware tests. On Thursday the OneCare team respond on their team blog, though while it's good for Microsoft to come out and address these issues, the response time has just been too slow for there to be a meaningful impact.

As was explained to us when we talked to the OneCare MVPs this week, the tests which questioned OneCare's detection rate were primarily looking for variants of older malware, which for most users will not pose any major threat. In contrast the OneCare team has been concentrating on detecting the newer and more active malware for its v1 and 1.5 products. While the reasoning behind this is logical, this is definitely an issue that now needs to be addressed by the team. (The recent performance of the OneCare anti-malware engine has been discussed in more details on the Microsoft anti-malware blog.)

What doesn't help the OneCare team are comments made to ZDnet by Arno Edelmann, Microsoft's European business security product manager. Edelmann is quoted as saying that that "usually Microsoft doesn't develop products, we buy products. It's not a bad product, but bits and pieces are missing...OneCare is a new product — they shouldn't have rolled it out when they did, but they're fixing the problems now." While I'd disagree that Microsoft's best products are all purchased (Messenger and Spaces come to mind for Windows Live), this is definitely not the way to reassure consumers already running OneCare. Microsoft doesn't have the greatest record when it comes to security and in this case Arno should have followed the Sinofsky lead and kept quiet instead of compounding the issue.

Looking ahead to the OneCare 2.0 beta expected to begin in April, the most interesting feature rumored so far is undoubtedly the ability to backup to the cloud, something we suggested early last year. It'll be interesting to see if and how this ties in with the skydrive, the cloud storage service Ray Ozzie has mentioned previously. With Windows Live moving into wave 2, replication should be one area with some exciting developments.