Mundie to set the ball rolling @ Microsoft

NEW DELHI: So is the first episode in the ‘Closed Windows’ Vs ‘Open Source’ war over now that the most colourful of all the warriors, William Gates Jr aka Bill Gates, has announced his exit? It’s not that simple, if you ask Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s new chief research and strategy officer.

ET spoke to Mr Mundie, who assumed the mantle from Ray Ozzie, elevated to that coveted post of Microsoft’s chief software architect. And he had this to say: “How can an icon like Bill Gates just go like that? He will never be silent in the software world...Just that now we will have a more authoritative voice,” Mr Mundie told ET in a telephonic interview from Redmond, the MS citadel.

According to a company announcement, Mr Mundie will work closely with Mr Gates on the research & incubation efforts of Microsoft, and he will also guide the intellectual property and technology policy efforts. While Mr Mundie will look at Microsoft’s strategy in a 3-15 year time frame, Mr Ozzie is slated to focus on a range of cross-cutting issues in a 3-5 year time frame. Though both will work on incubations, Mr Mundie will be responsible for core technology. Mr Ozzie, on the other hand will be responsible for consumer experience.

The theme at Microsoft going forward is growth by leveraging research. While the world awaits the upgrades on the mainstay products of Microsoft, Mr Mundie said how both Windows and Office in ’07 will be graphically richer.

“Microsoft office will see a new user interface, which will do away with any opaque features and will focus on unified communication to be naturally usable. Research will focus on developing new businesses and expanding existing ones by targeting the next 1-2bn people by introducing them to starter and flexi models of Microsoft’s software,” he said.

So what does he feel about the two Asian tigers? Microsoft is bullish about both India and China, with the research centre in Bangalore just a year old. “We are pleased with the quality and language skills of the small group, which is expected to grow. Our expectations now centre around new products through R&D and on-line service with introductions such as cell phones and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV),” he said.

Qizzed on the technology trends of the future, Mr Mundie said: “We will see a micro processor revolution following the trends of physics and architectural changes, while there will be immense opportunities in wireless technology. Sophistication in user interface in terms of modalities of humans interacting with machines is also going to revolutionise the software world.”

While Google maybe considered a thought leader of the internet age by many, Mr Mundie believes that Microsoft is more diverse and established as a company. Conceding Google’s dominance in search and the ad support model he spoke of Microsoft’s dominance in cell phones, software for users, IPTV & other such innovations.

Defending Microsoft’s revenue growth of 8% last year, Mr Mundie talked about the law of large companies and revenues being in the range of $3-4bn in absolute terms. He also stressed on the 33% earnings growth as a measure of outperformance with decreasing competition from open source as most companies are moving towards monetising their software.

Meanwhile, as Bill Gates moves towards his philanthropic mission armed with Warren Buffet’s generosity. Microsoft under Steve Balmer, Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie is geared towards IT playing a major role in the foundation’s education projects.