A public memo from departing Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie describes a "post-PC" world where all devices are smart and connected, and they can communicate with each other with little prompting from the user. Titled "Dawn of a New Day," the memo is sparking questions not only about the role that Microsoft will play in the world that Ozzie envisions, but also the ways in which everybody in any line of business will have to adjust.

Ozzie takes Microsoft to task for slipping behind in the mobile environment, particularly in the realm of mobile apps and other Internet-based activity. "Certain of our competitors' products and their rapid advancement & refinement of new usage scenarios have been quite noteworthy," he wrote. "Our early and clear vision notwithstanding, their execution has surpassed our own in mobile experiences, in the seamless fusion of hardware & software & services, and in social networking & myriad new forms of Internet-centric social interaction."

The implications of Ozzie's vision are relevant not just to Microsoft and other tech companies, but to every company that uses technology, writes Andrew McAfee in a post at HarvardBusinessReview. Increasingly, businesses are confronted with a choice between using the traditional IT infrastructure (PCs, client-server applications, servers and significant IT staffs) or using the emerging model based on cloud-computing and connected devices. While the latter may be more expensive in the short run, the costs will come down, he writes. As for user satisfaction, the connected model is likely to beat out the traditional model. 

InfoWorld's Robert X. Cringely sums up the vision in Ozzie's memo more bluntly, as "a world where Windows no longer matters." He concedes that Microsoft has demonstrated, with the launch of Windows Phone 7, an understanding that traditional Windows really doesn't work with the small screens on mobile devices. However, it may be a little too much to expect the Redmond, Wash., giant to forgo the traditional OS altogether.  

"I have to imagine asking Ballmer to drop Windows as the basis for everything was probably a bit like asking the Pope to drop the silly hat and allow priests to marry, or McDonalds to go 100 percent vegan," Cringely writes. "Hence Ozzie's sudden departure."

PCs are not going to disappear completely, and the "post-PC" world is already here, Cringely proclaims. In the future, PCs will "be more like toasters--nice to have when you need a warm bagel, but not essential to our digital existence," he writes. "And if Microsoft is no longer a part of that world, that's OK by me. I think we've all suffered enough."

For more:
- see Andrew McAfee's post at HarvardBusinessReview
- see Robert X. Cringely's post at InfoWorld

Related Articles:
What's risky about the next Windows?
Hints of Windows 8
New operating systems may reduce malware threat