Obama's CIO choice could cause big headaches for Microsoft |
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Obama's CIO choice could cause big headaches for Microsoft
Vivek Kundra
Barack Obama' s choice of Vivek Kundra as the nation's first chief information officer may not be greeted warmly in Redmond, since the 34-year-old is described as an energetic BlackBerry-toting enthusiast of Google and Apple. As the Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia, Kundra just last summer signed a deal with Google to move the district's 38,000 employees to cloud-based applications. At the time, Ars Technica wrote that it was "yet another blow to Microsoft's incumbent office suite."
Could Kundra try to implement a similar program nationwide? In a conference call today, Kundra expressed an interest to expand the government's use of cloud computing. Microsoft, which is trailing Google and Amazon.com in that arena, obviously will be paying close attention to those efforts and making its case in D.C.
Still, the appointment of Kundra prompted a TechFlash reader to wonder if the choice was driving Microsoft's stock lower today. "Ballmer just got another concern to add to his plate," the reader wrote in yesterday's story on Steve Ballmer's thoughts on innovation and the economy.
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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