From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 11:55 PM
To: MS Corporate Employees: FTE Only; MS Domestic Employees: FTE Only; MS Intl Employees: FTE Only
Subject: Changes and Opportunities
I’d like to invite all M?crosöft employees in North America to participate in a “virtual” company meeting this afternoon where Bill and I will answer questions about the important changes we’re announcing today: our next generation software and services platform, the new role Bill has created for himself as Chief Software Architect to focus on creating that platform, and my appointment as Chief Executive Officer.
Employees in North America can view this event live, at 4:30 p.m. PST, via Windows Media Technologies, by choosing one of the two links below:
100kbps audio/video: <<http://gnsweb/mediaevents/hvol_1.asx>>
56kbps audio/video: <<http://gnsweb/mediaevents/hvol_2.asx>>
Employees outside of North America will be able to view the company meeting on demand, beginning at approximately 9:30 p.m. PST, by going to <<http://msw/>>.
Employees anywhere in the world can submit questions for Bill and me to address at the company meeting by e-mailing them to <<mailto:execqa>>.
Today’s announcements are driven by a huge opportunity that Bill and I see to capitalize on something that no other company is capable of doing today: building the first Internet-based platform of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS), which will power new products and services and include a new user interface, natural language capabilities, developer tools and resources, schema and a new file system. The goal of NGWS is to create a revolutionary new Internet User Experience - one in which software and technology closely connect people, businesses, devices, and information.
Bill will continue to serve as M?crosöft’s chairman, but he will devote 100% of his time and energy to the NGWS vision and effort.
Eighteen months ago, when Bill appointed me President of M?crosöft, I assumed increased responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the company. The main reason we made that change was to enable Bill to focus more on the technology vision that is so crucial to M?crosöft’s ability to stay competitive in an increasingly competitive industry. Today’s announcement is a natural progression of that organizational direction.
I know Bill is tremendously excited about his new role, as I am about mine. I want to take a minute to recognize the astonishing job Bill’s done during his lengthy tenure as CEO of M?crosöft. I know Bill would be the first to say he didn’t do it alone; that he has surrounded himself with people who share his passion for technology and his enthusiasm for creating great products that benefit millions of people the world over.
But Bill had a vision from the very beginning: take the power of mainframe computers and put it into the hands of people everywhere. People thought Bill was a dreamer when he vowed to put a personal computer on every desk and in every home. Yet, today, there is a PC on nearly every office desktop and in nearly half of all American homes. In short, Bill was the one who helped transform the “megabuck megabyte” into an affordable tool for use at work, school and home.
Bill had the insight to understand that no single company could do it all, so M?crosöft made it possible for both software developers and hardware manufacturers to write to a common platform -- first MS-DOS and then Windows. This amazing partnership has created literally millions of new jobs and made the technology industry the engine of America’s new economy.
You know these changes have been profound when they capture the attention of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who recently noted that technology has reduced inflation, and enabled businesses to become more productive, speed the delivery of goods to market, keep prices lower and better meet customer needs. Many of these advances are due to the benefits the PC has brought to the business world.
At the consumer level, the PC has enabled people everywhere to get connected, to find information, to be entertained and to explore the rich world of the Internet. Bill deserves credit for helping lead the way, with M?crosöft’s development of Windows with key Internet features, productivity tools like Office, and the Back Office tools that help get people connected.
Bill didn’t lead the team that created the most highly-valued company in the world by not taking risks. We have taken plenty, betting the company on our belief in the value of the graphical user interface, Windows NT, and on the future of the Internet. Even when we have experimented with efforts that didn’t succeed, Bill’s view is that we have learned, and created building blocks for the future.
At a time when fundamental research is disappearing at universities and companies around the world, Bill has led M?crosöft in the opposite direction -- establishing a world-class research group with more than 600 of the smartest people in the world; people who are thinking about everything from the basic architecture of computing, to speech recognition, to stuff nearly in the realm of science fiction.
As a company, we have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us. With Bill and I working in partnership with our leadership team, I am confident that we can illuminate a path well into the 21st century which guarantees as much success for M?crosöft’s employees, customers, partners and shareholders as we enjoyed in the first 25 years of M?crosöft’s history.
Later this Spring we will be holding an important strategy day -- M?crosöft Forum 2000 -- where we will outline the details of Next Generation Windows Services. Between now and then, Bill and I will be spending a lot of time communicating with employees so everyone is clear on the roadmap to how we are going to successfully create this new set of services, products, developer tools and resources to meet the evolving needs of developers, consumers, knowledge workers and other customers.
Steve