Microsoft's Ozzie urges company to continue cloud development in farewell memo

Since former Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie announced his upcoming retirement, the industry has been buzzing about the potential downfall of Microsoft cloud services.

Ozzie is trying to make sure that doesn't happen. In a recent memo, he urged Microsoft to continue cloud developments. He declared "our products are now more relevant than ever," and emphasized the importance of continued development in the cloud. So far, Ozzie believes Microsoft's developers have largely adapted to the new IT environment of the cloud, and are ushering the company into the new age of the cloud.

"We're moving toward a world of 1) cloud-based continuous services that connect us all and do our bidding, and 2) appliance-like connected devices enabling us to interact with those cloud-based services," Ozzie wrote in his memo.

"To achieve these seemingly simple objectives will require dramatic innovation in human interface, hardware, software and services," he added.

Microsoft has recently had an impact on the cloud environment. Not long after the company introduced its new Office 365 product, the cloud-based version of its famous applications, the city of New York announced an agreement with the company to offer cloud-based messaging for more than 130,000 city employees.