is one of the technology industry's true visionaries. He worked on the first spreadsheet, VisiCalc, and developed the Lotus Symphony office suite. And that was only the prelude: He launched Iris Associates, which developed the software that would become Lotus Notes, and later Groove Networks, which developed the collaboration software Groove Virtual Office (now called ).

In April of 2005, Microsoft bought Groove and Ozzie became Microsoft's chief technical officer. In June 2006, he was , a title previously held by Bill Gates.

Many industry watchers had high hopes for Ozzie's influence at Microsoft, but he has done little to change the company's direction, software or culture, particularly when it comes to his specialty, collaboration. Beyond adding Groove to the Office suite, Microsoft has done little to develop it, sell it or make it central to the company's strategy. The upcoming version of Office for the Web doesn't even have basic synchronization features, and the is a mess, consisting of an odd mishmash of downloadable software and Web-based services, with no real connection between them.

Why hasn't Ozzie made his mark? Some people (including ) postulate that there's a dog-eat-dog culture at Microsoft, with too many people protecting too much turf, and he's never managed to adapt.