Craig Wiseman

Mr. Thurrott wrote this a year ago, but it's worth a re-read. From a public perspective, Mr. Ozzie kind of disappeared into Microsoft, but it's clear he had the forethough and intelligence to see what was coming.

Microsoft's history is full of baloney legends, like "The Internet Tidal Wave" memo from Bill Gates that allegedly caused the company to "turn on a dime" and embrace the Internet (and in the process squash Netscape). But a more complete and less hagiographic telling of that history should also include those signs that Microsoft missed, and in this case, those memos that Microsoft completely and utterly ignored.

Ray Ozzie wrote at least two of them. And each is, in its own way, as prophetic and important as that Internet Tidal Wave memo.