Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s (News - Alert) chief software architect has departed with a bang and a few words of prophecy.

"It’s important that all of us do precisely what our competitors and customers will ultimately do: 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," said Ozzie in a memo posted on his Internet blog.

So what does that really mean?

The age of desktop computers may be over, and large companies basing their revenues off of such software may be in for a few pitfalls. What Ozzie is describing is a “post-PC” world where all technology is up in the cloud.

As per Ozzie, “For the most part, we’ve grown to perceive of ‘computing’ as being equated with specific familiar ‘artifacts’ such as the ‘computer’, the ‘program’ that’s installed on a computer, and the ‘files’ that are stored on that computer’s ‘desktop’.  For the majority of users, the PC is largely indistinguishable even from the ‘browser’ or ‘internet’.”

Microsoft hasn’t fallen behind, per say, but it does have some ground to catch up on. While Ozzie praised Microsoft's recent progress in moving toward cloud-based services (citing the incorporation of both Windows Live and Xbox Live products for consumers, as well as Windows Azure, an online computing environment designed for corporate use) – he also said that some of the opportunities he imagined five years ago have yet to be realized.

And what did he say five years ago?

“Just as in the past, we must reflect upon what’s going on around us, and reflect upon our strengths, weaknesses and industry leadership responsibilities, and respond.  As much as ever, it’s clear that if we fail to do so, our business as we know it is at risk.”

A statement so well written – it sounds almost like literature.

Customer demand and advances from competitors have forced many companies formerly in the desktop computer/software market to think ahead of the game.

They must evolve or expire.