In a Monday-posted memo, Microsoft's departing Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie urged his colleagues at Microsoft to push the company to develop products and services for a future that will be dominated by cloud computing.

The valedictory memo that Ozzie posted on his Internet blog outlined the changes that have occurred at Microsoft since he took the reins as the company's Chief Software Architect after Bill Gates. The memo chiefly highlighted Microsoft's successes as well as the challenges it faces, with cloud services becoming increasingly important.

Urging his Microsoft colleagues to "close our eyes and form a realistic picture of what a post-PC world might actually look like, if it were to ever truly occur," Ozzie said that he predicted a future that will be dominated by cloud computing - with people running software on remote, Internet-linked computers, instead of their own machines.

Ozzie, a pioneer in developing network-based software, said in the memo that he foresees "cloud-based continuous services that connect us all and do our bidding" and "appliance-like connected devices enabling us to interact with those cloud-based services."

Noting that Microsoft has largely succeeded in making its transition to cloud-based services, despite some missed opportunities, Ozzie pointed to Windows Live as an online accompaniment of the company's Windows and Office software; as well as to Office's evolution from the desktop to the Web and mobile devices via Office 365, 2010 Office, SharePoint and Live services.