I was at a small conference last month where Ray Ozzie spoke and he demonstrated, as he has done many times before, a refreshing grasp of the state of the industry and Microsoft's position within it. Steve Ballmer did the right thing by bringing Ray to D8. There has been a great deal of coverage, so instead of adding to the heap, here are some links:
- Ars Technica: This one is probably the best distillation
- eWeek: A quick summary
- All Things Digital: A rough transcript
- Engadget: This one contrasts Job's comments about PC = Truck to Ballmer's response
In the end Ballmer seemed on the defensive, and was not able to land an innovative forward thinking idea. Ray Ozzie had some well crafted thoughts about the industry direction but in the few video clips I saw he seemed to get cut off right before he was going to say something meaningful. Microsoft still has great deal of work to do.