An Open Letter to Ray Ozzie – Join the Semantic Web Revolution!
January 18, 2010
Dear Ray,
You’ve been a tremendous force in software, from VisiCalc to Lotus Notes to IBM and now, as Microsoft’s chief software architect, you are at the pinnacle of your career. Like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, Andy Bechtolsheim, and other titans of technology, you are a member of the 1955 club. You have the vision to change the world. Perhaps more than anyone else at your level of influence, you can see the 21st century clearly. You know that we’re just getting started.
So why are you at Microsoft? Why do you envision a world where Microsoft dominates, even though almost everything Microsoft does today will be irrelevant in just ten years? Why aren’t you crusading, putting everything you’ve worked for on the line to make the next ten years of your life really count? Look at your recent keynote video to the Microsoft developer community. Ray, honestly, it sounds like you’re trying to tell everyone that the future of cloud computing is going to rest on the Microsoft platform with Windows logos on everything. You’ve seen the future, and the future is – Microsoft Silverlight. Is that what you really think, Ray? Or do you know, deep in your heart, that the vibrant community of internet developers using open standards is going to overwhelm the relatively small number of Microsoft developers and that open standards will, finally, prevail?
You’ve got ten years, Ray. Ten years to make a serious impact on the world (so do I, by the way). What about your dream? Why are you playing it safe in Redmond, when the big picture is out here, on the open web, where people are doing the hard work to build the infrastructure to make your dreams come true? It’s out here, Ray, in startup land. It’s not at Microsoft or Google. The Chrome OS will lead us to the future, but the standards will all be open. It could be at Apple, that’s a company you could grab and turn – gradually – into a 21st century company. But more likely it’s going to be a new startup that challenges all these companies. Or a thousand startups. Or the one you and I start together.
Ray, I’m begging you. You have the money, you have the security, your kids will go to great schools. You have ten years to go. Why are you listening to Steve Ballmer? Why not change the world? Get my book, then email me and let’s take John Doerr to lunch and change the world. Let’s start a fund, Ray, and build the companies that build the infrastructure that make history. Let’s go to the conferences and give speeches that give developers around the world new hope. Let’s build companies that will really make your dreams come true. You’ve had a good run in enterprise software. But the cruise ship is going to be fine without you. Jump into the whitewater and give us a hand. We need you.
Sincerely yours,
David Siegel
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