Microsoft's new chief architect is taking software into "the cloud"


      Consumers are getting used to retrieving their digital information and collections ? contacts, photographs, e-mail, documents ? on practically any computer and a growing number of mobile devices.
      These Internet services are replacing much of what was done only a few years ago with software firmly rooted to an individual computer.
      The software industry is in the midst of a transformation that will see an expanding range of desktop-software functions delivered to users as Internet services.
      Even functions of the computer hardware itself, such as data storage and processing power, can be provided by remote data centers or "server farms" and accessed anywhere in the world with a high-speed Internet connection.
      And the trend ? called "software as a service," or, in Microsoft's parlance, "software plus services" ? is not limited to consumers. Businesses of all sizes are adopting this new model to access software functions they previously had to buy, install and host on their own servers.
      Microsoft has embraced this trend and is investing billions ? as is its top online competitor, Google ? in building a complicated, global system of hardware, software and expertise to deliver these Internet services. Eventually, all of its products will have some Internet-services component, Microsoft executives said recently.
      As it undertakes this fundamental change to its business and software-development models, Microsoft is also halfway through a monumental leadership transition.Continue At Source


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