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Steve Ballmer is not shy about switching out management of the Windows Azure group. First we saw Ray Ozzie leave Microsoft. He left after Windows Azure became part of Bob Muglia's responsibilities. Now Muglia is no longer the executive Ballmer wants to run the Server & Tools Business (STB), the division that oversees Windows Azure. In turn, Muglia will also be leaving Microsoft after the transition to new leadership.

Ballmer's new choice to lead STB depends on who has the experience to manage what the group sees as its main goals for the year ahead and beyond. It's a critical decision. Ballmer has made the point often that the cloud represent Microsoft's future.

We wonder if Ray Ozzie ever thought that he would someday looking from Microsoft's executive suite to see IBM release his Lotus Notes creation into the cloud.

That's what IBM did today. Lotus Notes is now as much a cloud platform as it has ever been with a set of new features that have traditionally only been available on-premise. Before we dive into the details of the news, let's look at Lotus Notes from a historical context.

In 1973, David Wooley created PLATO Notes, an online message board. According to Wikipedia "Ray Ozzie worked with PLATO while attending the University of Illinois in the 1970s. When PC network technology began to emerge, Ozzie made a deal with Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation, that resulted in the formation of Iris Associates in 1984 to develop products that would combine the capabilities of PCs with the collaborative tools pioneered in PLATO. The agreement put control of product development under Ozzie and Iris, and sales and marketing under Lotus. In 1994, after the release and marketplace success of Notes R3, Lotus purchased Iris. In 1995 IBM purchased Lotus."

In 2009, when Ray Ozzie stepped into the ring with the news that Microsoft was launching a full-on social lab, it was clear that the Enterprise 2.0 movement was moving into a new phase.

Now comes the question of what effect Microsoft will have on the way Enterprise 2.0 evolves and what roles the players that are early to the game will play in its future.

Now that Ray Ozzie has stepped into the ring with the news that Microsoft is launching a full-on social lab, it's clear that the Enterprise 2.0 movement is moving into a new phase.

Now comes the question of what effect Microsoft will have on the way Enterprise 2.0 evolves and what roles the players that are early to the game will play in its future.

Today's winning comment goes to Kamyar, from our post The Beast of Redmond is Roaring (& Thinking) Again. Kamyar's comment was a super-geeky reference to the classic sci-fi novel and movie, Dune. I'm not sure I can picture Sting as Ray Ozzie, but still it was a nicely gratuitous sci-fi reference. We're fans of that at RWW.