TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Benjamin Black, who helped create Amazon.com's EC2 Web service and spent time at Microsoft as a director of engineering, has established a branch office in Seattle for Sausalito, Calif.-based cloud computing startup Joyent.

Black joined Joyent as vice president of research last month and plans to build a small staff here. In addition, he said that Joyent's CTO, Jason Hoffman, is moving to Seattle from San Francisco.

Microsoft's new cloud-computing initiative will face stiff competition from the likes of Google, Salesforce.com and Seattle-based Amazon.com, all of which have beaten the Redmond company to market with cloud-based offerings of their own. And even if Microsoft does succeed in reshaping its business in the long run, it could see thinner profit margins if its product mix shifts away from its lucrative lines of software for PCs and computer servers toward potentially less costly online versions.

Zillow.com

Jorrit Van der Meulen

Jorrit Van der Meulen, who served as vice president of partner relations at Zillow.com, has left the company.

Even though Van der Meulen's bio remains on the Zillow Web site, a spokeswoman confirmed that he is gone. His position has been filled by Spencer Rascoff, who had served as chief financial officer and vice president of marketing. Rascoff now holds the new title of chief operating officer.

UPDATE: Van der Meulen is returning to Amazon.com to run IMDB.com and other content sites, according to an e-mail that he sent to colleagues. Text of the October 20th email, which was obtained by TechFlash, is included after the jump.

LOS ANGELES -- Microsoft's unveiling of "Windows Azure" this morning will give the company a foothold in the market for cloud computing -- letting outside developers use its own data centers to deliver online services across PCs, the Web and mobile devices.

It also creates a new level of competition between Microsoft and another Seattle-area tech giant, Amazon.com. Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, took the unusual step of acknowledging Amazon's existing EC2 cloud computing platform this morning as he announced Windows Azure. Ozzie said Microsoft had already been secretly planning its own system -- under the code name "Red Dog" -- for a number of months by the time Amazon launched its service. [Updated with Amazon comment.]

[UPDATED] A clip has already leaked out on YouTube today of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos's appearance on Oprah. He's talking up the Kindle, the company's electronic book reader, and showcasing his trademark laugh.

Microsoft

Craig Mundie (Microsoft photo)

Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, has taken over Bill Gates' responsibilities for setting the company's long-term technology vision. In a recent interview, he discussed subjects including the impact of the U.S. economic turmoil on Microsoft, the state of computer science, and the status of the company's online services initiatives.

We haven’t heard much from Christopher Payne, the former Microsoft Internet search chief, since he left the software giant in March 2007. Turns out he’s been working on a new Seattle startup called Positronic, which is involved in machine learning. The company is “striving to push forward the state of the art in machine learning and computational science,” according to its Web site.

On our radar today: Tom Huseby on Sequoia's RIP slides; Blodget on the coming online ad slump; Avenue A Razorfish changing its name; a new CTO for the USA; Oregon cash.

Darren Vengroff, the former Amazon.com engineer who resigned from Seattle startup Pelago earlier this year, has re-emerged in a new role at San Francisco startup richrelevance. Vengroff, who will serve as chief scientist, said he plans to open a new Seattle office for the company with a handful of engineers.