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<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Professional_Developers_Conference_2009_Partner_Expo_3.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a><keyword id="370014" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ray-Ozzie">Ray Ozzie</keyword></div></div>In another sign that HP is getting its act together after a rough couple of years, HP on Monday announced that it landed three new board members.
All have impressive backgrounds: tech legend and former Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie, the former CEO of Liberty Media Dob Bennet, and the former CEO of McDonald’s and current chairman of Walgreens, Jim Skinner.
Last March, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-board-vote-2013-3">shareholders nearly ousted three board members</a>, blaming them for nearly $17 billion in write-downs from some of HP's biggest acquisitions including <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-and-its-execs-have-been-slammed-with-10-lawsuits-over-the-autonomy-debacle-2012-12">Compaq, EDS, and Autonomy</a>.
The<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/autonomy"> Autonomy acquisition</a> was particularly ugly. Under former CEO Leo Apotheker, HP bought Autonomy for $11 billion and then, less than a year later, wrote down $8.8 billion in goodwill and claimed it had discovered $5 billion of accounting fraud on Autonomy's books after the deal had closed. Various legal and regulatory authorities are now investigating.
Activist shareholders hotly criticised three board members: McKesson CEO John Hammergren, Wachovia CEO G. Kennedy Thompson, and Ray Lane. All three were were nearly voted off the board during the company's annual shareholder meeting in March. That's almost unheard of. Shareholders typically vote for standing board members with a high majority of votes.
Shortly after, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/should-meg-whitman-become-hps-next-chairman-2013-4">Hammergren and Thompson resigned</a> and Lane gave up his chairman's seat, but remained on the board. (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sources-say-obstinate-ray-lane-refused-to-step-down-from-hp-chair-2013-4">Some sources say Lane refused</a> to step down voluntarily, too.)
Ralph Whitworth, a veteran shareholder activist, agreed to run the board as chairman temporarily and to staff it.
After the hubbub, another board member, legendary venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, gave his full-throated supported to HP's current CEO Meg Whitman, calling her an "outstanding" CEO.
"This company built Silicon Valley. It deserves to be a glorious success story for decades to come. I am going to stick with it for as long as I can be useful," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-loves-meg-whitman-2013-4">he said in April.</a>
<div style="overflow: hidden; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">The news of a rebuilt <keyword id="136326" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Board-of-Directors">board of directors</keyword> hasn't wowed investors so far. The stock is trading flat at ~$26.</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> </div>
<div style="overflow: hidden; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Here's the full press release from HP:</div>
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 15, 2013 — HP today announced that its board of directors has appointed three new members.
Robert R. “Dob” Bennett, former president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Liberty Media Corporation; Raymond E. Ozzie, former chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation and founder of Talko Inc.; and James A. Skinner, former vice chairman and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation and current chairman of Walgreen Co., will join HP’s board, effective today. The appointments increase the number of HP directors from nine to 12.
Over the coming months, the board will continue to search for additional world-class directors as well as a permanent non-executive chairman. Ralph V. Whitworth will continue to serve as chairman of the board on an interim basis.
“In April, we made a pledge to recruit the very best, most talented leaders to HP’s already outstanding board,” said Whitworth. “Dob, Ray and Jim bring tremendous capital allocation, technological, operational and leadership expertise and experience to the table. I’m confident they will make enormous contributions as we support Meg and her team in rebuilding HP by better serving our customers, strengthening our partnerships and building value for our shareholders. It’s an enormously satisfying time to be part of HP, and today’s announcement adds to our ability to deliver on our promises.”
“As we move forward with our turnaround, it’s a huge benefit to be able to get advice from a board made up of such experienced business and technology leaders,” said Meg Whitman, president and CEO, HP. “For their part, Dob, Ray and Jim have just about seen it all during their careers. I’m very grateful for their support, as well as the ongoing support from all of the directors.”
With their addition to the board, Bennett will become a member of the Finance and Investment Committee and the Audit Committees, Ozzie will join the Technology Committee and the Finance and Investment Committee, and Skinner will join the Audit, HR and Compensation, and Nominating and Governance Committees. Note to editors: Ralph Whitworth posted comments regarding this announcement at www.hpnext.com.
 About Robert R. “Dob” Bennett
Dob Bennett is the former president and CEO of Liberty Media Corporation. He served in those positions from April 1997 until August 2005. He was one of the founding executives of Liberty, serving as the principal financial officer from its inception in 1991 until 1997. He currently is principal of Hilltop Investments, LLC, a family investment company.
Bennett also served as president of Discovery Holding Company, Inc. from March 2005 until September 2008, when it was merged with Discovery Communications, Inc., creating a new public company. Prior to his tenure at Liberty, Bennett worked with TeleCommunications, Inc. in a variety of financial positions and with The Bank of New York. He currently serves on the boards of Liberty Media Corporation, Discovery Communications, Inc., Sprint Corporation and Demand Media, Inc.
Bennett holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from Denison University and an MBA from Columbia University.
About Raymond E. Ozzie
Ray Ozzie, an industry visionary and pioneer in computer-supported cooperative work, left his role as Microsoft’s chief software architect in December 2010 and founded Talko Inc., a firm focused on a new generation of mobile communications applications and services.
Ozzie assumed the role of chief software architect at Microsoft in June 2006. In that role, Ozzie had oversight of the company’s technical strategy and product architecture, and directed development of the company’s next-generation software services platform. Ozzie was Microsoft’s chief technical officer from April 2005 to June 2006. He took up that role when Microsoft acquired Groove Networks, Inc., a collaboration software firm Ozzie formed in 1997.
Before Groove, Ozzie was a founder and president of Iris Associates, where he created and led the development of Lotus Notes. Before Iris, Ozzie contributed to the development of Lotus Symphony and Software Arts’ TK!Solver and VisiCalc, and worked in distributed operating systems development at Data General Corp.
Honored as one of seven “Windows Pioneers” by Microsoft, Ozzie also was named “Person of the Year” in 1995 by PC Magazine and has been inducted into the Computer Museum Industry Hall of Fame and the InfoWorld Hall of Fame. In November 2000, he received the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society’s W. Wallace McDowell Award, and in 2001, he was honored as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. In 2004, Ozzie was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and in 2010, he was named as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts &amp; Sciences. Ozzie has served as a member of the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and currently serves on the board of directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
Ozzie earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
About James A. Skinner
Jim Skinner has served as a member of the Walgreen Co. board of directors since 2005, and was appointed non-executive chairman in July 2012. He is the retired vice chairman and chief executive officer of McDonald’s Corporation. Before his promotion to McDonald’s CEO in November 2004, Skinner served as vice chairman overseeing restaurant operations in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Skinner held numerous leadership positions during his McDonald’s career. Before becoming vice chairman, he served as president and chief operating officer of the McDonald’s Restaurant Group, with responsibility for the company’s more than 30,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries. Prior to that, Skinner was president of McDonald’s Europe.
Skinner joined McDonald’s International management team in 1992 as senior vice president and relationship partner, overseeing McDonald’s development in Africa, Central Europe, India and the Middle East.
After serving in the U.S. Navy for nearly 10 years, Skinner began his career with McDonald’s in 1971 as a restaurant manager trainee in Carpentersville, Ill. He advanced quickly and held numerous positions in the U.S. company, including director of field operations, market manager, regional vice president and U.S. senior vice president/zone manager.
Until his retirement, Skinner served on the board of directors of McDonald’s Corporation and currently serves on the boards of Ronald McDonald House Charities and Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
Skinner also is a member of several civic and business organizations, including The Economic Club of Chicago. He also serves on the board of trustees for the Museum of Science and Industry.

Hewlett Packard Rebuilds Its Battered Board With Three Big Wigs: Ray Ozzie, James Skinner, Dob Bennet

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>The Baltimore Ravens issued a lengthy denial of <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11551518/how-ray-rice-scandal-unfolded-baltimore-ravens-roger-goodell-nfl">an ESPN article</a> by Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg that suggested the team was aware of the full extent of the Ray Rice elevator video back in February.
One of the article's most damning claims is that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and Rice had a text message exchange in which Bisciotti offered Rice a job in the future as a quid pro quo. That article said Rice believed the job offer came with the understanding that he would keep quiet about what the Ravens knew regarding the video showing the football player knocking out his then-fiancée.
The <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11551518/how-ray-rice-scandal-unfolded-baltimore-ravens-roger-goodell-nfl">ESPN report</a> said, "A few days later, after thinking about it more, Rice told friends he believed Bisciotti was suggesting that, as long as he kept quiet and stuck to the story that he had misled team officials and Goodell about what had happened in the elevator, the Ravens would take care of him down the road."
In a statement Monday, Bisciotti published a transcript of the texts.
Rice initiated the first exchange a few hours after the team cut him on Sept. 8 at 7:44 p.m. eastern:
Ray: I understand the decision but I am thankful for what you have done for me and my family. Me and my wife will continue to work on us and being better but I just wanted to say thank you for giving me a chance
Steve: I'm sorry we had to do this. I still love you and believe that you will be a great husband and father If you ever need to talk just call
The second exchange came the next day, and appears to have been initiated by Bisciotti. Here's where he tells Rice he'll hire him down the line:
Steve: I just spent two hours talking to Ozzie. It was all about you. We love you and we will always figure out a way to keep you in our lives. When you are done with football I will hire you to help me raise Great young men. I still love you!!!
Ray: I know it's a rough time for all of us I love all of you and that will never change for life!
Steve: I will help you make it a great life indeed. I give you my WORD
Ray: That means the world to me and my family we greatly appreciate you and thank you.
This is slightly different than the texts quoted in the ESPN article.
Here's <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11551518/how-ray-rice-scandal-unfolded-baltimore-ravens-roger-goodell-nfl">how ESPN described the texts</a>, which they got from one of Rice's friends:
"Minutes later, Rice's phone buzzed. He could scarcely believe what he was looking at-- back-to-back text messages from Bisciotti. Rice read them aloud so everyone in the room could hear them:
"'Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here. Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay.'
"'When you're done with football, I'd like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league.'
"Rice was flabbergasted. One minute Bisciotti and the Ravens were essentially calling him a liar, the next Bisciotti was quietly offering him a job?"
Bisciotti says the text with the supposed job offer read, "When you are done with football I will hire you to help me raise Great young men."
ESPN (via Rice's friend) says the text read, "'When you're done with football, I'd like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league."
The ESPN version is slightly more explicit.
Bisciotti said in a statement that the job was not a bribe to keep Rice quiet.
"I cannot believe that Ray ever thought I was suggesting he keep quiet, when he got the texts or later on," Bisciotti said in his statement. "They were not an insult. To the contrary, I think he knew these were messages from the heart, as were his responses to me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Everyone knows that, including Ray."
<a href="http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Message-To-Fans-Regarding-ESPN-Story/b2ed215d-3999-4715-b947-21b460930bc7">The full statement can be read here &gt;</a>

Here's The Text Exchange Where The Ravens Owner Told Ray Rice He'd Hire Him After Football 

Welcome back to <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/10-things-in-politics">10 Things in Politics</a>. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/10-things-in-politics">Sign up here to receive this newsletter</a>. Plus, download Insider's app for news on the go - click <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576">here for iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider">here for Android</a>. Send tips to <a href="mailto:bgriffiths@insider.com">bgriffiths@insider.com</a>.Here's what we're talking about:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-guidance-trick-or-treat-celebrate-halloween-covid-coronavirus-mask-2021-10"></a><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-staff-campaign-biden-white-house-2021-10">Inside the Kamala Harris campaign diaspora: Here's where 52 of the vice president's former staffers are now</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-democrats-billionaire-tax-plan-annual-tax-bill-2021-10">Elon Musk slams Democrats' possible billionaire tax</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/treasury-lobbyists-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-altcoin-stablecoins-biden-2021-10">These are the 5 government decisions lobbyists say could soon shake up crypto</a></li></ul>P.S.: The Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies stole a base last night. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2021/10/26/taco-bell-free-taco-world-series-stolen-base-ozzie-albies/8561022002/">That means free tacos on November 4</a>.With Phil Rosen.1. THE WHITE HOUSE: Only three of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign staffers are working on her White House team. But the key people who helped position Harris for her historic election are not far away either. Many former campaign staffers now have top administration jobs.Here's a look at where some of the top Harris alums have landed:<ul><li>Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY's List: Butler is the third president in the 36-year history of EMILY's List and the first Black woman and mother to lead it. She previously led California's biggest union, SEIU Local 2015, and was a senior advisor to Harris during her campaign.</li><li>Emmy Ruiz, White House director of political strategy and outreach: Ruiz previously worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign in Colorado and Nevada. She was a senior advisor to Harris' presidential campaign.</li><li>Ian Sams, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS: Harris' former national press secretary in 2020 now leads all Health and Human Services Department communications on COVID-19.</li><li>Joyce Kazadi, director of scheduling and advance at USAID: When she worked for Harris in 2020, Kazadi was the first Black woman to serve as the director of advance on a major presidential campaign. Now, she oversees the daily operations and trip planning for the US Agency for International Development's administrator, Samantha Power.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-staff-campaign-biden-white-house-2021-10">Check out Insider's entire list of where 52 former Kamala Harris staffers are now.</a>2. Elon Musk slams Democrats' possible billionaire tax: Musk ripped the idea, arguing it was the start of a new campaign from Democrats to redistribute wealth from the richest Americans. "Eventually, they run out of other people's money and then they come for you," he wrote on Twitter. Democrats are considering a plan that would impose taxes on tradable assets like stocks held by about 700 billionaires to fund an expansion of healthcare and childcare and to renew President Joe Biden's beefed-up child tax credit. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-democrats-billionaire-tax-plan-annual-tax-bill-2021-10">Here's what else you need to know about the billionaire tax</a>.<ul><li>Such a tax would need congressional approval: Sen. Joe Manchin, one of two key Senate swing votes, has told colleagues he has deep concerns about the billionaire tax, Axios reports. <a href="https://www.axios.com/manchin-billionaires-tax-6dd769da-3eb4-4551-b5ad-0e96eb3e792c.html">More on Manchin's misgivings</a>.</li></ul><div type="image" title="Jerome Powell, the US Capitol Building and Joe Biden." height="2000" width="4000" msid="87307356" hostid="261"></div>3. These five decisions could shake up crypto: Lobbyists tell Insider they're paying particularly close attention to Congress, the Treasury Department, and White House executive orders regarding digital assets. One of the issues they are closely tracking is whether Biden will issue an executive order requiring more regulation and oversight of cryptocurrencies. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/treasury-lobbyists-cryptocurrency-bitcoin-altcoin-stablecoins-biden-2021-10">Read more about what crypto lobbyists are closely tracking in Washington</a>.4. FDA moves closer to OKing a COVID-19 vaccine for younger kids: A coronavirus vaccine for elementary-school-age children is closer than ever to reality after a Food and Drug Administration expert panel voted in support of offering Pfizer-BioNTech's shot to 5- to 11-year-old children. The vaccine would be the first authorized for younger children, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has to sign off too. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-panel-backs-pfizers-covid-19-shot-for-kids-ages-5-11-2021-10">Experts disagreed on whether every child should get the shot or whether it should be targeted to more at-risk kids</a>.<div type="image" title="Robert Redfield, Debra Birx, and Donald Trump" height="1333" width="2000" msid="87307360" hostid="261"></div>5. Former top advisor says Trump could've saved 130,000 lives that were lost: Dr. Deborah Birx, the former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, testified to lawmakers that President Donald Trump's approach to the coronavirus pandemic led to a massive number of preventable deaths. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ignored-covid-19-advice-couldve-saved-over-130000-lives-birx-2021-10">She also suggested the 2020 election distracted Trump and took attention away from the US's pandemic response</a>.6. UN trashes lackluster global climate efforts: UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech that countries were "utterly failing" to address the climate crisis. Guterres based his dismal view on a UN report that found countries' pledges to reduce carbon emissions were falling significantly short of targets. "The emissions gap is the result of a leadership gap," Guterres told reporters. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/united-nations-climate-crisis-global-goals-utterly-failing-2021-10">World leaders are set to meet in a highly anticipated UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, next week</a>.7. Lawmakers are expected to subpoena the lawyer who told Pence he could overturn the election: Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chair of the House select committee investigating the insurrection, said his panel would subpoena the conservative lawyer John Eastman, The Washington Post reports. Eastman, in now-infamous memos, made the case that Pence had the power to unilaterally overturn the election results when Congress met to certify them on January 6, a position Pence ultimately rejected. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jan-6-committee-expected-to-subpoena-lawyer-who-advised-trump-pence-on-how-to-overturn-election/2021/10/26/e9120342-36ae-11ec-9bc4-86107e7b0ab1_story.html">More on the news</a>.<ul><li>ICYMI: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-members-didnt-realize-how-bad-january-6-insurrection-was-until-much-later-2021-10">Lawmakers in lockdown on January 6 say they didn't realize how 'bad' the insurrection was until 'much later'</a></li></ul>8. America is in store for an expensive Thanksgiving: "Nearly every component of the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, from the disposable aluminum turkey roasting pan to the coffee and pie, will cost more this year, according to agricultural economists, farmers and grocery executives," The New York Times reports. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/dining/thanksgiving-inflation-supply-chain-food-costs.html">There's no single reason to blame for turkey day gobbling up more of your wallet, though supply-chain issues and inflation are part of the problem</a>.9. Trump endorses Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro: Trump announced his endorsement of Bolsonaro just hours after the incumbent had criminal charges recommended against him by a Brazilian Senate committee for his pandemic response. A six-month inquiry into Bolsonaro's response found he had repeatedly promoted dangerous, false claims about COVID-19 and had tried to stop the nation's Congress from introducing public-health mandates around masks. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-endorses-bolsonaro-brazilian-president-9-criminal-charges-recommended-2021-10">"Brazil is lucky to have a man such as Jair Bolsonaro working for them," Trump said</a>.<div type="image" title="galaxy messier 51 purple pink starry spiral" height="1499" width="1999" msid="87307363" hostid="261"></div>10. Astronomers may have found a planet beyond the Milky Way: If true, this would be the first planet discovered in another galaxy. A global team of astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope to study what is either a black hole or a neutron star in a distant galaxy. Something appeared to pass in front of that object, suggesting a planet might be orbiting it. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-nasa-telescope-spot-signs-of-planet-beyond-galaxy-2021-10">The breakthrough offers early evidence that this X-ray technique could be used to find planets in other galaxies</a>.Today's trivia question: The Atlanta Braves took a one-game lead in the World Series with <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-houston-astros-atlanta-braves-baseball-f34b83a678b6a77ab77171b7c47c7fc7">a 6-2 opening win against the Houston Astros</a>. Speaking of the Fall Classic, who was the first president to attend a World Series game? Email your answer and a suggested question to me at <a href="mailto:bgriffiths@insider.com">bgriffiths@insider.com</a>.<ul><li>Yesterday's answer: Prime Minister Winston Churchill once claimed he saw the ghost of President Abraham Lincoln at the White House. Churchill was a bit embarrassed about his close encounter because he had just finished taking a bath. <a href="https://www.insider.com/white-house-haunted-ghost-stories-history-2021-10">Here are some other White House ghost stories</a>.</li></ul>

10 Things in Politics: Inside the Kamala Harris campaign diaspora

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Fred Prouser/Reuters</div></div></div>Microsoft has purchased <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ray-ozzie-talko-financing-2012-12">Talko</a>, a tiny startup helmed by ex-Microsoft bigwig and tech legend Ray Ozzie, just in time for Christmas, <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/firehose/2015/12/21/talko-comes-to-skype-2/">per a blog entry</a>.Talko's tech lets users tag, bookmark, save, and search through phone conversations, letting workers share notes and snippets of conference calls with each other. Talko also uses sound analysis to let you know who's speaking on a conference call.In that blog entry, Microsoft says that Talko's employees will join the Skype team - good timing, as Microsoft looks to boost <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-office-365-google-apps-features-2015-12">Skype's credibility in the workplace</a>. The price of the deal was not disclosed. And Ray Ozzie, founder of Talko, will not be rejoining Microsoft, he <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/12/21/microsoft-buys-ray-ozzie-talko/">confirmed to Fortune</a>.Ozzie is best known as the man who took over the title of Microsoft Chief Software Architect from 2006 to 2010, replacing Bill Gates himself in the role. Indeed, Gates once called Ozzie one of the greatest programmers on the planet.Before that, Ozzie invented the Lotus Notes software, one of the first tools for workplace collaboration, and a big reason why IBM purchased Lotus for $3.5 billion in 1995.Ozzie started Talko, originally called "Cocomo," in 2012. In 2014, Talko came out of stealth mode, but failed to set the world on fire. In fact, he indicated to Fortune that this sale wasn't actually his plan for Talko.Also of note: This is actually Microsoft's 20th <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-buys-metanautix-2015-12">acquisition</a> of 2015. Microsoft has given itself one more present under the tree. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-flagship-store-apple-retail-2015-10">What it's like inside Microsoft's new flagship store</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9oNGJjeDoew3IjUTuGYaKjDrQsiqtFvq" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Microsoft buys itself an ex-executive's company for Christmas

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>When Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie stepped down in 2010, people wondered what would be next for the man whose speciality was software. In late 2012, however, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ray-ozzie-talko-financing-2012-12">an SEC filing revealed Ozzie's stealthy venture</a> involved the name "Talko."
After a few years under wraps, Ozzie and his team have finally revealed Talko, which a new collaboration app that seeks to bring voice calls into the modern era.
Talko allows users to tag, bookmark, save, and search through conversations.
"I can't predict how this thing will turn out, but by making voice as easy to use as text, it will change things," said Ozzie in <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/with-talko-app-ray-ozzie-creates-a-permanent-voice/?_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;module=BlogPost-Title&amp;version=Blog%20Main&amp;contentCollection=Start-ups&amp;action=Click&amp;pgtype=Blogs&amp;region=Body&amp;_r=1">an interview with The New York Times</a>. "If the internet had been invented first, every voice call would be viewed by a different standard."
Talko is most likely to find a foothold in the workplace, where conference calls are often notoriously finicky affairs that feel rooted in a pre-internet era.
With Talko, you can start a conversation with a text, voice message, or phone call, and you can easily categorize your contacts into groups based on team projects.
Talko is flexible in how you use it, and that helps the app feel more like a collaborative workspace than a souped-up voice app.
For example, during a call, Talko users can even snap a photo within the app and share it with those in the conversation. While it's possible for iPhone users on T-Mobile or AT&amp;T to send photos while calling, it's still not possible for Verizon or Sprint users - but with Talko, they can.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div> 
Talko stores logs of your phone calls from the last 10 days, and also notes who was participating in the conversation and any media or links that were uploaded. Combine that with a tagging system that lets you easily add a hashtag to categorize the call, and you're left with a searchable index of your past conversations.
One of Talko's coolest features is visible at the bottom of the app during a conversation, where sound waves with accompanying names let you know who is talking, which is helpful during team conversations or when speaking with people you're unfamiliar with.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div> 
While there's no doubt Talko can meet a need in the workplace, it's tough to see the app taking off elsewhere, especially since everyone in a conversation needs to be using Talko for its features to work. Talko tries to do it all, but the app will likely face an uphill battle in convincing people to scrap Skype, group messages and voice messaging in iOS 8, and other collaboration tools like Slack in favor for yet another app.
Talko is currently only available on the iPhone, but Android and web versions are on the way.
You can try Talko for yourself <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/talko-talk.-share.-do./id569298031?ls=1&amp;mt=8">over at the App Store.</a>

Former Microsoft Software Architect Reveals 'Talko' App Meant To Revolutionize Conference Calls

<div class="image-container" style="width:619px"><div class="image"></div>Adobe</div>
The reactions to <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword>'s startling hire of a senior executive at Adobe, <keyword id="156249" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kevin-Lynch">Kevin Lynch</keyword>, as VP of Technology continue to roll in.
The Apple blogosphere is up in arms, with analyst <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-gruber-on-apple-hiring-adobes-cto-2013-3">John Gruber having called Lynch a "bozo" and "bad guy."</a>
The animosity from diehard Apple fans seems to be based primarily on the fact that Lynch (and Adobe) advocated a technology that Steve Jobs panned -- Adobe's Flash.
Lynch worked for Adobe at the time, so it's hardly surprising that he was outspoken about Adobe's products. And now that the Flash argument is over (Apple won), hopefully the Apple faithful can forgive him for once having played for another team.
But what about folks who don't have a horse in the race? What do they think?
<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ray_Ozzie,_Web_2.0_Conference.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>Ray Ozzie</td></tr></table>We heard from one veteran tech executive this morning who had an interesting take on Lynch's hire.
The executive liked it to Microsoft's hiring of Ray Ozzie in 2005.
Ozzie was a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Ozzie"> very senior software executive and visionary</a> who, among other accomplishments, had developed Lotus Notes. Microsoft bought his latest company, Groove Networks, and made him one of three Chief Technology Officers. The next year, Ozzie was promoted to Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, taking over the role from Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Ozzie's hiring and promotion was viewed as an effort by Microsoft to inject new talent and vision into the company. Microsoft had already lost the industry leadership position it had enjoyed in the 1990s, and it was widely perceived as missing out on the next generation of web-based services and software development. Ozzie was supposed to bring new leadership into Microsoft and revitalize the company.
Alas...
Although Ozzie was widely respected within the industry, he was unable to change much at Microsoft. And he left the company quietly in 2010.
The veteran tech executive who reached out to us this morning thinks that Apple is trying to do the same thing with Kevin Lynch that Microsoft was doing with Ray Ozzie. 
Despite launching the smartphone and tablet markets several years ago, Apple has fallen behind in software and services. After a power struggle, Apple fired software leader Scott Forstall last year. And the perception has been that the company has to reenergize its software and web-services effort or risk falling farther behind Google and other company.
Our tech exec's theory is that the Lynch hiring shows that Apple realizes it needs to go outside the company to get this expertise.
But he doesn't think it's going to work.
"History may remember Kevin Lynch as Apple's 'Ray Ozzie,'" the exec suggests. "Ray was a smart guy, brought in a critical time. [But he was reduced to a show pony role at Microsoft. There was no lasting legacy, no step change in innovation during his tenure..."

Here's One Insider's Take On Apple's Big New Hire...

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella</div></div></div>This week, we finally got to see <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-teams-vs-slack-2016-11">Microsoft Teams</a> - a new work chat app that will compete with the likes of Slack and Atlassian HipChat.Teams will be a part of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-scores-office-365-contract-with-ge-2015-7">Office 365 subscription service</a>, where companies pay a monthly or yearly fee and get access to a whole range of Microsoft productivity software, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.But Teams isn't the only social product in Office 365. Back in 2012, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yammer-microsoft-acquisition-confirmed-2012-6">Microsoft paid $1.2 billion for Yammer</a>, a social networking tool for the <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Enterprise">enterprise</keyword> cofounded by current Zenefits CEO David Sacks. And Microsoft confirms that even with the rise of Teams, Yammer isn't going anywhere.Really, Microsoft says, Teams and Yammer scratch different itches within Office 365.<ul><li>Yammer acts a little bit more like a bulletin board (or your Facebook news feed), where people can post status updates, links, and documents, and chat around them. Microsoft corporate VP of Office 365 marketing Ron Markezich tells me that internally at Microsoft, it's how executives like CEO Satya Nadella post updates to the whole company. </li><li>Microsoft Teams is more like Slack or any other chat program: It's more about on-the-fly, free-ranging conversations for groups of smaller teams, though you can still post documents and web apps and talk about those, too. </li></ul><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">MicrosoftMicrosoft Teams</div></div></div>Since the acquisition, Yammer has always been kind of an odd duck in the larger Microsoft picture: It was only earlier this year, almost four years since the acquisition, that Microsoft started making Yammer available to Office 365 customers rather than making it available as a separate product.Markezich says that, sure, Microsoft could have built the Teams functionality into Yammer, but the risk was that the social feed would get "clogged" and overcomplicated."It's a way to keep Yammer pure and clean," Markezich says.In fact, Microsoft tells Business Insider that Teams was built entirely in-house, without using any technology from acquisitions like Yammer or smaller buys like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-acquires-talko-for-conference-calls-2015-12">Ray Ozzie's Talko</a>. The goal was to complement Yammer with something that enabled more spontaneous collaboration that the more traditional social news feed.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://blogs.office.com/2016/09/26/yammer-strengthens-team-collaboration-through-integration-with-office-365-groups/">Microsoft</a>Microsoft Yammer</div></div></div>"Yammer serves a great purpose, which is the social network," Markezich says. "It's not the place where social interactions happen."Microsoft Teams is currently available in preview, and will launch for all Office 365 business customers in early 2017.

Microsoft explains where its new Slack-killer fits in with its $1.2 billion Yammer acquisition

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">MicrosoftSony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida (left) with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (right)</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>On Thursday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/microsoft">Microsoft</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/sony">Sony</a> made a joint announcement that they would "explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services." </li><li>This partnership came as a big shock: They've been fierce rivals since the first Microsoft Xbox challenged the Sony PlayStation 2 in 2001. </li><li>However, it makes a lot of sense: The next big thing in gaming is cloud streaming, and it's difficult and expensive to build a cloud platform that can hang with those from Microsoft and Google - both of whom have their own cloud gaming services on the way. </li><li>It's just another example of how cloud computing makes for strange bedfellows, given that basically only three companies - Microsoft, Google, and Amazon - have enough cloud cred to present a viable, modern cloud infrastructure. </li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories</a>.</li></ul>On Thursday, Microsoft and Sony shocked the world with a joint statement that they would be teaming up - and on video gaming, no less, where the two have been fierce rivals ever since the original Microsoft Xbox picked a fight with the Sony PlayStation 2, way back in 2001. In their own words, "the two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services," with the promise of more specifics to come in the future. They'll also work together to integrate Microsoft's Azure AI technology with Sony's ubiquitous image sensor business. It's exciting times, right at a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epic-games-vs-steam-discord-microsoft-xbox-game-pass-2018-12">pivotal moment in the gaming industry.</a>The imminent launch of cloud gaming services like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-project-xcloud-xbox-games-2018-10">Microsoft xCloud</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-stadia-hands-on-impressions-2019-3">Google Stadia</a> promise to stream even the most graphically intensive video games to any device, anywhere - from a game console down to the humblest of smartphones - by leveraging the computer processing brawn of the tech titans' massive data centers. Now, it seems, Sony is turning to Microsoft and its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/microsoft-azure">Azure cloud</a> to get in on the action. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesThe two platforms have been rivals for going on two decades.</div></div></div>It's really tempting to read a lot into this announcement: Have the two arch-rivals really put their beef behind them? Will you be able to play Xbox games on a PlayStation, or vice versa? Let's not jump to conclusions. Over at <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/2019/05/16/sony-and-microsoft-to-explore-strategic-partnership/">Ars Technica</a>, Kyle Orland has a convincing breakdown of why that's unlikely, mostly because the next <a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/us/next-xbox-release-date-rumors,news-27484.html">Xbox</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/playstation-5-backwards-compatible-2019-4">PlayStation</a> are both already preparing for a not-so-distant launch, and it wouldn't make a lot of sense for either company to invest so heavily in rival hardware if they were planning on laying down their arms and embracing a joint cloud service.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epic-games-vs-steam-discord-microsoft-xbox-game-pass-2018-12" data-analytics-position="7">The creator of 'Fortnite' is leading a battle that could throw the entire video game industry into disarray, and it's likely to be terrible for Google and Apple</a>Instead, here's my reading of this announcement: Sony needs Microsoft's help, because there's a lot keeping it from competing toe-to-toe with Microsoft xCloud, Google Stadia, or, eventually, <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/amazon-developing-game-streaming-service">Amazon's own planned game streaming service</a>. And so, it had to turn to Microsoft, a competitor, to help it keep pace with the rest of the industry. <h2>A little background</h2>It's worth noting here that Sony has offered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/you-can-play-old-playstation-games-on-the-ps4-2014-1">PlayStation Now</a>, a game-streaming service, since 2014 - well before current Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer had his current job. To build PlayStation Now, Sony shelled out $380 million for startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sony-buys-gaikai-the-impact-on-mobile-gaming-2012-7">Gaikai</a> in 2012, and then opened its checkbook again for <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8337955/sony-buys-onlive-only-to-shut-it-down">OnLive</a> in 2015. However, PlayStation Now has never been a huge hit, despite Sony's investment. In February, Engadget said it "<a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/18/playstation-now-re-review/">still isn't good enough</a>."It's also worth noting that around the same time that Sony launched PlayStation Now, it was reported that the company was "urgently seeking ways to build an infrastructure" to support its cloud ambitions. To make it happen, it was reported, Sony had <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/news/sonys-streaming-context-strategy-needs-huge-data-center-expansion/">sought contracts with data center facility providers to boost its capacity</a>. This gives a hint as to what might be driving Sony towards this Microsoft partnership. <h2>It ain't easy bein' cloud</h2>One of the big reasons why Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are able to succeed in this cloud market - where companies like Dell, VMware, and Cisco have all backed down - is that they invested heavily in building their own data centers, and then further invested in making them as efficient and powerful as humanly possible. Indeed, at Microsoft, former chief software architect Ray Ozzie gets the credit for convincing then-CEO Steve Ballmer that the company would never get anywhere in the internet age without owning its own data centers, despite the massive expense involved. Now, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-executive-vp-scott-guthrie-hololens-game-stack-azure-sentinel-2019-3">under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella and cloud boss Scott Guthrie</a> that investment is paying off: Microsoft has data centers all over the world, all running applications large and small, both for the company itself, and on behalf of the customers of Microsoft Azure.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">MicrosoftMicrosoft's Project xCloud promises to let you play even the biggest blockbusters from your smartphone or just about any other internet-connected screen.</div></div></div>At the same time, Microsoft has tasked its leading researchers and engineers with finding new, innovative, bleeding-edge ways to improve efficiency, get more power, and even run the cloud in more eco-friendly ways. More recently, the company has launched Azure Game Stack, a package of services to help game developers capitalize on everything Microsoft has learned from operating Azure for about a decade now. We haven't heard anything new about Sony's cloud infrastructure in a while. But it's hard to imagine that Sony's infrastructure is at the same scale as Microsoft's, let alone as efficient or as powerful. We don't know if Sony will use Microsoft to beef up PlayStation Now, or to build an entirely new gaming service, but it's not strange at all to think that the company might want Microsoft to at least partially power that future.<h2>Strange bedfellows</h2>A weird effect of all of this is that the cloud has made for some strange partnerships, and some even stranger counter-partnerships. Apple, for example, has been reported to use both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-amazon-web-services-spending-report-2019-4">Amazon Web Services</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-scores-victory-over-amazon-apple-is-a-cloud-customer-2018-2">Google Cloud</a> to power its iCloud service. Sony, too, could choose to use multiple clouds, if it isn't already. On the flip side, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-tells-its-tech-providers-to-stop-using-amazon-services-2017-6">Walmart famously asked its partners to stop using Amazon Web Services</a>, as a line in the sand in the online retail wars. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/target-to-move-off-amazons-cloud-cnbc-report-2017-8">Target made its own move away from AWS at around the same time.</a>In gaming, though, there aren't many places for Sony to turn if it wants a cloud partner who won't also be a competitor. Google has its Stadia service, while Amazon is rumored to be working on its own game streaming service. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digitalocean-ceo-mark-templeton-cloud-developers-2019-4">DigitalOcean</a>, probably the largest independent cloud platform, doesn't have the same scale as its competitors. Since Sony can't avoid the reality of competition, its best bet is probably to embrace it - by choosing a company that it at least understands and respects, thanks to their years of long competition. Get the latest Microsoft stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/MSFT-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avengers-endgame-end-credits-hidden-meaning-behind-mobius-strip-2019-4">The hidden meaning behind the 'Avengers: Endgame' end credits</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Microsoft and Sony's surprise game streaming alliance is a shocker, and it raises an uncomfortable truth about the cloud wars

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:379px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://allthingsd.com/video/?mod=atdnav">All Things D</a></div><keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> just announced a big shake up.
<keyword id="154027" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andy-Rubin">Andy Rubin</keyword>, who founded and led Android, is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/android-boss-andy-rubin-steps-down-2013-3">stepping aside to work on other projects at Google</a>.
In his place, <keyword id="164502" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sundar-Pichai">Sundar Pichai</keyword> will take the lead on Android.
Pichai already runs one of Google's major projects — Chrome. Chrome is a web-based operating system that has largely focused on traditional computing platforms like the laptop.
Chrome was developed alongside Android at Google, but clearly Android has become the bigger success.
In the release announcing Rubin's move, CEO <keyword id="100155" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Larry-Page">Larry Page</keyword> said Android is on 750 million devices. Chrome is just getting started on laptops. We'd be stunned if it was on more than a thousands of computers.
It's a bit of a mystery as to why Google has two operating systems.
Even Pichai <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/even-the-mother-of-the-guy-in-charge-of-chrome-doesnt-know-why-google-has-two-operating-systems-2012-6">admits that his own mother asks him about it</a>. Last June he tried to explain it by saying, Android is for phones and tablets, but Chrome for desktop users who want to work in the cloud.
This doesn't necessarily make all that much sense, though, since the Chrome team is reportedly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-will-sell-touchscreen-chrome-os-2013-2">porting its operating system to work on tablets</a>, just like Android. Its most recent product, a gorgeous Chrome laptop called the Pixel has a touch screen.
The best explanation we ever heard for why Google has Chrome and Android <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ray-ozzie-schools-steve-ballmer-on-stage-at-all-things-d-2010-6">came from former Microsoft executive Ray Ozzie</a>. He described Android has a bet on the past and Chrome as a bet on the future. Android, though mobile, has a lot of traditional operating system elements. Chrome, which is all web based, is a bet that you can operate entirely in the cloud.
With Pichai taking over, we expect the two operating systems will merge.
Pichai is highly regarded at Google. In 2011, Twitter tried to poach him to lead product. He stuck with Google <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-paid-two-employees-tens-of-millions-dollars-not-to-take-jobs-at-twitter-2011-4">after it paid him tens of millions in stock to stick around</a>.
He takes on Android at an interesting time.
The hyper growth for Android is probably done. The major, earth changing features are probably set. Now it's a matter of polish, tweaking, and gradually adding new innovations. It's also about managing the next phase of growth, which will be slower.
Simultaneously, Samsung has pretty much consumed the Android brand. This isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it makes Google somewhat nervous.
And then there's Google's own aspirations with hardware. Pichai's team just release a laptop, the Chrome Pixel. It's reportedly interested in doing its own tablets.
At the same time, Google owns Motorola which is building phones.
If Pichai likes to make hardware, will he want to make his own phones? And will that be a conflict with Motorola?

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