El Futuro de Microsoft según Ballmer

CEO Steve Ballmer's message to Microsoft employees on the departure
of senior executive Kevin Johnson and a divisional reorganization. The
e-mail was first published by All Things D.

From: Steve Ballmer

Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:30 PM

To: Microsoft - All Employees

Subject: FY09 Strategic Update

With FY08 complete, I want to discuss my priorities for the year
ahead and share my thoughts about the key strategic topics that are on
everybody's mind, including Windows, competition with Apple and Google,
our software plus services strategy, and Yahoo.

I also have news about an organizational change and a transition in our Senior Leadership Team.

First, I want to thank you for your hard work and the dedication you
showed during the past 12 months. FY08 was a milestone year. Our
revenue jumped $9.3 billion to more than $60 billion. Operating profit
grew 21 percent to $22.5 billion.

These outstanding numbers are the direct result of your commitment to
the priorities I outlined last July. A lot has happened since then, but
our fundamental strengths, challenges, and strategic goals remain
largely the same. Therefore, my priorities are consistent with last
year. In FY09 we must continue to:

1. Invest in the right opportunities;

2. Expand our presence with Windows, Office, and developers;

3. Drive end user excitement for our products;

4. Embrace software plus services; and

5. Focus on employee excellence.

By focusing on these five areas, we can continue to grow
revenue, increase profit, and expand our market share. These priorities
are also critical as we work to address key issues surrounding our
business in the coming year:

• Windows: The success of Windows is our number one job. With SP1 and
the work we've done with PC manufacturers and our software ecosystem,
we've addressed device and application compatibility issues in Windows
Vista. Now it's time to tell our story. In the weeks ahead, we'll
launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may
have about Windows Vista. And later this year, you'll see a more
comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for
our customers.

We also have to drive developers to create rich applications
for Windows. With Internet Explorer and Silverlight, we have great
tools for creating applications that run everywhere. But we also need
to make sure developers have the .NET skills to write unique Windows
applications using Windows Presentation Foundation. To keep today's
Windows applications alive, vibrant, and exciting, we need
both--applications that run everywhere and rich client applications.

• Apple: In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell
Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why?
Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but
complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some
compromises to the end-to-end experience. Today, we're changing the way
we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete
experiences with absolutely no compromises. We'll do the same with
phones--providing choice as we work to create great end-to-end
experiences.

• Business and enterprise: Our enterprise and server business has never
been stronger--today we are on the verge of becoming the number one
enterprise software company. We need to continue to push on all
fronts--mail with Exchange, business intelligence with
PerformancePoint, virtualization with Hyper-V, and databases with SQL
Server. We have to drive our enterprise search capabilities, our
unified communications solutions, and our collaboration technologies.
And we must continue to compete against Linux in key workloads such as
Web servers and high performance computing.

• Software plus services: Some people think software plus services is
all about search. But it's really about changing the way software is
written and deployed. The future is about having a platform in the
cloud and delivering applications across PCs, phones, TVs, and other
devices, at work and in the home. It's also about driving change in
business models through advertising, subscriptions, and online
transactions. Software plus services is a huge opportunity for us to
deliver new value on the desktop and the server to all of our
customers. This year at PDC, you'll hear more about our cloud platform
initiatives and the next versions of our Live and Online technologies.

• Google: We continue to compete with Google on two fronts--in the
enterprise, where we lead; and in search, where we trail. In search,
our technology has come a long way in a very short time and it's an
area where we'll continue to invest to be a market leader. Why? Because
search is the key to unlocking the enormous market opportunities in
advertising, and it is an area that is ripe for innovation. In the
coming years, we'll make progress against Google in search first by
upping the ante in R&D through organic innovation and strategic
acquisitions. Second, we will out-innovate Google in key areas--we're
already seeing this in our maps and news search. Third, we are going to
reinvent the search category through user experience and business model
innovation. We'll introduce new approaches that move beyond a white
page with 10 blue links to provide customers with a customized view of
their world. This is a long-term battle for our company--and it's one
we'll continue to fight with persistence and tenacity.

• Yahoo: Related to Google and our search strategy are the discussions
we had with Yahoo. I want to emphasize the point I've been making all
along--Yahoo was a tactic, not a strategy. We want to accelerate our
share of search queries and create a bigger pool of advertisers, and
Yahoo would have helped us get there faster. But we will get there with
or without Yahoo. We have the right people, we've made incredible
progress in our technology, and we'll continue to make smart
investments that will enable us to build an industry-leading business.

As I mentioned earlier, I have important organizational news. Today we
are announcing that the Platforms and Services Division will be split
into two businesses: Windows/Windows Live and Online Services. We are
also announcing that Kevin Johnson will leave the company. He will work
to ensure a smooth transition.

Since 1992, Kevin has been a key contributor to many of this company's
most important achievements. As president of the Platforms and Services
Division, Kevin has built an incredibly talented organization and laid
the foundation for the future success of Windows and our Online
Services Business. Over the last 16 years, through everything from his
work as head of the company's worldwide sales, marketing, and services
efforts, to his leadership in transforming our field operations and
repositioning the company to focus on opportunities in emerging
markets, Kevin has played a vital role in this company's success. There
is no doubt that his passion and dedication will be missed.

Effective immediately, Steven Sinofsky, Jon DeVaan, and Bill Veghte
will report directly to me to lead Windows/Windows Live. In the Online
Services Business, we will create a new senior leadership position and
conduct a search that will span internal and external candidates. In
the meantime, Satya Nadella will continue to lead Microsoft's search,
ad platform, and MSN engineering efforts, and Brian McAndrews will
continue to lead the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. Both
Windows/Windows Live and the Online Services Business are led by a
strong group of executives on the technical and business side who have
the talent and experience to address the challenges we face and drive
the next generation of growth and success.

Looking ahead, I see an incredibly bright future for our company. As I
said at the June 27th Town Hall for Bill, we are the best in the world
at doing software and nobody should be confused about this. It doesn't
mean that we can't improve, but nobody is better than we are. Nobody
works harder than we do. Nobody is more tenacious than we are. We're
investing more broadly and more seriously than anybody else. Our
opportunities to change the world have never been greater.

I look forward to working with all of you as we focus on our five priorities in FY09.

Steve