leaders of each of Microsoft’s newly defined divisions now have end-to-end management accountability in their respective customer segments.  Guided by the company’s overall vision, they have total responsibility for setting a clear mission and priorities for their division, including all product planning and marketing strategies.  The divisional leaders also have freedom to form business relationships both inside and outside Microsoft — freedom to work with the parties they need to do the best job for their customers.

Microsoft’s mission has always been to connect customers with the information they need.  But today there is more information to connect with than ever before, stored in more places than ever before, and accessible in more ways than ever before.  By refocusing totally on offering customers what they want rather than what technology can provide, we will help them succeed in the PC-Plus world.  We will also build a solid foundation for Microsoft well into the 21st century.



Managing knowledge

An organization’s most valuable asset is its knowledge base.  It is also the hardest to manage.  For the majority of knowledge workers, getting the information they need is still more difficult than it should be.  Mostly, it involves creating and distributing paper documents or telephoning and meeting with fellow employees.  New digital approaches enabled by our software will make knowledge workers far more efficient.

With its Web-based collaboration tools, Microsoft® Office 2000 is already a powerful component of a knowledge management solution.  In the coming year, we will augment it with several other key initiatives.  Windows® 2000 Active Directory™ service will simplify administration and make it easier for knowledge workers to find resources throughout their organization.  Future versions of Microsoft Exchange will offer both a platform for unified messaging and our Web Store technology, creating a powerful, centralized communications and knowledge management solution.  In the future, we plan to introduce document library and search server technology that will help companies leverage their knowledge bases.  Because 50% of work is now done in teams — compared with only 20% a decade ago — we have added team productivity features to the BackOffice® family and other products.  And to help organizations realize the dream of a paperless office, our ClearType technology offers on-screen resolution and readability that equals or exceeds that of paper.

To help knowledge workers access information more efficiently, we’re also developing what we call a digital dashboard.  The digital dashboard is a customized Office 2000 solution that pulls together all of the information that is important to you — regardless of whether it’s on your PC, corporate network, or the Internet — and makes it available in one place.  A digital dashboard helps you manage and prioritize messages, tasks, information, meetings — in fact, whatever you want.  It also gives you access to all of the analytical tools you need to process your data.  And it makes all of this available wherever you are, whether on your handheld computer, PC, or smart telephone.  The digital