From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2000 3:09 AM
To: MS Corporate Employees: FTE Only; MS Intl Employees: FTE Only; MS Domestic Employees: FTE Only; WebTV Wnifolk
Subject: .NET Opportunity
Today is an exciting milestone for M?crosöft - for all of us who work here, as well as for our customers, partners and shareholders. At our Forum 2000 strategy day, we announced M?crosöft .NET - what we had been calling “NGWS” - our platform for the next generation of the Internet.
The opportunity to define and execute on the next revolution in technology is tremendous. We have been fortunate to lead the PC revolution, which continues to generate huge benefits for millions of consumers and businesses worldwide. This next revolution will reach even more people, and will move computing beyond Web browsing to a new Internet platform and a new world of dynamic software services.
This next generation of the Internet will be characterized by four things, all of which M?crosöft .NET is designed to facilitate:
· Software as a service: Next-generation software will be delivered over the Internet and updated, managed and improved by developers remotely. This will be a dramatically better experience for both customers and developers.
· Built on XML: XML is a great standard for unlocking data. It will allow software to work across documents, systems, services and devices. It will be the “lingua franca” for the Internet.
· New user experience: Next-generation software will improve how users interact with their PC and devices, enabling them to control their information in powerful new ways.
· Many devices: Users will want this next-generation software experience on the many devices they use. With M?crosöft .NET, services and information will be accessible across devices, and optimized for each of them.
M?crosöft .NET will be delivered in three forms: a new user experience; infrastructure and tools; and a set of programmable .NET Building Blocks. This is a long-term strategy, one that will take years to execute fully, so it is critical that we all stay focused - not only on our goal but also on the daily steps it will take to achieve it.
I’ve had the opportunity to talk with many customers and partners about where we see the Internet going, and how we intend to help it get there. And I’ve shared with them our vision and plans for M?crosöft .NET. This vision has really resonated with customers and partners - from Michael Capellas at Compaq to ASPs in Norway to a group of leading CIOs I spent time with in San Francisco. We should all be confident and proud that we are focused and executing on a strategy that answers the needs of our customers, and provides unprecedented opportunities for our partners and developers.
Developing M?crosöft .NET isn’t going to be easy, but we have the experience building platforms, driving industry standards and supporting the developer community. We have great technology: Windows 2000, Visual Studio, MSN and the services we’ve done there, all of the Windows DNA 2000 servers, Office 2000, and more. We have the patience to build a platform over many years, guided by a solid long-term vision and backed by our commitment to research and development. We already have many of the fundamental pieces in place to make M?crosöft .NET happen. We are totally committed to ensuring the success of customers, partners and developers - just as we always have been. And we have the smart, talented people who can make this work.
I encourage everybody to join us for the virtual company meeting tomorrow, and to take a look at the white paper for more details.
Neither Bill nor I can remember a time during all our years at M?crosöft when we were more excited and optimistic about this company and this industry, more passionate about the challenges and opportunities ahead, or more confident of the people we have working with us. We’re looking forward to sharing this next leg of the journey with all of you.
Steve
-------------------------
Virtual company meeting: Tomorrow (Friday, June 23) from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (PDT) on <<<http://winme/>>> and on TenTV. Please send any questions you have in advance to the execqa alias.
M?crosöft .NET white paper: <<<http://www.M?crosöft.com/presspass/topics/f2k/whitepaper/default.asp>>>
Forum 2000 Web site on PressPass: <<<http://www.M?crosöft.com/presspass/topics/f2k/default.asp>>>