Humbly report, All, regarding James Allard, our new Vice President of Operations:
Picture and interview at Microsoft: microsoft.com
From Business Week, businessweek.com :
a handful of Microsoft's engineers were up to their elbows in Internet technologies. Networking engineer James Allard had for months dreamed of adding standard Internet networking, search, and document-presentation technologies to Windows, turning it into ''[the] next killer application on the Internet,'' according to a memo he sent to Microsoft's product development managers in January, 1994. His memo specifically detailed how browsing technology should be added to the operating system.
Excerpts from office.microsoft.com :
4. Others at Microsoft including James Allard were already hard at work developing Internet-related technologies and incorporating them into Microsoft's operating systems. Mr. Allard's January 25, 1994 memorandum titled "Windows: The Next Killer Application on the Internet," was sent to those at Microsoft leading the Chicago development effort. The memorandum spelled out a comprehensive strategy for "deliver[ing] Internet-ready systems to customers in 1994" with the goal of "establish[ing] Windows as an Internet-ready system." (A copy of that memorandum (MS 0122231-0122246), is attached hereto as Exhibit B). Mr. Allard foresaw the benefits of integrating Internet-related technologies into what became Windows 95, noting that the Windows Explorer used to look at files stored on local drives on a computer "is a natural fit with technologies like FTP and gopher which present users with filesystem-like organization of rich documents." Mr. Allard also noted that "Web viewers are not totally unlike our WinHelp or Multimedia viewer tools." He concluded that "[w]hen the next generation of Windows includes support for standard Internet protocols, the Internet becomes a natural extension of the Windows end-user experience, and the favored way to explore." (Allard Memo at 13). Mr. Allard next outlined a strategy by which "Windows becomes the global infostructure explorer" through integration of Internet-related technologies into the operating system. He explained that "[t]he enormous momentum generated by our integration efforts and increased presence feeds the Windows foothold in the Internet, as users begin to take advantage of the native system features to manage and navigate the infostructure." (Allard Memo at 14.)
7. On April 6, 1994, Microsoft held a day-long meeting of top-level managers, including Mr. Gates, Mr. Allard and myself, to discuss Microsoft's strategy for integrating Internet-related technologies into its operating systems. That meeting resulted in concrete plans for including many Internet-related technologies in Windows 95, including a viewer for content on the World Wide Web.
Congratulations go2net - quite a score!!!
Cheers,
Svejk
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