Empty sounds, Holloway gestures? Microsoft UK chief talks shop

Neil Holloway is the managing director of Microsoft UK and he has a reputation for being smooth. He's a smooth talker and an even smoother operator. It's easy to say that in his position, he needs to be. But meeting him for the first time, I reserved judgment.

I'd been warned what to expect. I'd even looked at his biography on the Microsoft website. Normally I avoid this as most paint a picture of a well-educated, well-rounded individual who spends his time at the theatre, reading or playing squash/golf/badminton. (Delete as appropriate.)

But since Holloway - despite his position in the Microsoft hierarchy - is not often talked about in the press, I had little to go on. We all know of Ellison's yachting adventures or Gates' penchant for high-tech houses or McNealy's dentist bill. But our Neil, Mr Microsoft UK, is a dark horse - no profiles in national newspapers or Panorama-style investigations.

Instead, I met a man who travels quietly from his home in Bracknell to his office each day without the hassle of national exposure.

But not for much longer, according to one close friend.

"This man is sh*t hot," he claims. "He is a bit like a terminator - unstoppable. He's a hell of a lot smarter than people realise and is very under estimated in the market as Bill [Gates, chairman at Microsoft] and Steve [Ballmer, CEO] always take the higher profile."

In fact, Holloway has been with Microsoft for the 11 years. In that time he has been attributed with building a successful NT server business and beefing up the company's customer-facing units.

His CV lists roles at Migent and Ashton Tate and he has an MPhil and undergraduate degree in maths.

Like most Microsoft bigwigs he plays his cards close to his chest. He only answers the questions asked and doesn't proffer additional information.

At one stage during our interview he drifts off into a Microsoft monologue on user experience. Losing his thread, he came back to earth for a moment, asked me what he had been saying and then left again on his journey into user experience. Smooth.

He goes to great lengths to convince me that Microsoft was in the right during its court battle against the US Department of Justice over holding a monopoly.

He says the company would rather have not gone through the case but "our principles had to be fought as it was important from a business and IT industry point of view".

He adds: "At stake was an important principle - our ability, when we have a high market share, to give functionality and the ability to protect our intellectual property [IP] rights. The DoJ were expecting us to disclose IP rights that our rivals would take advantage of."

Guilty of acting in a monopolistic manner, guilty of abusing its power and ignoring customer demand as well as stifling its competitors. It's an impressive list of offences and even more impressive to be found culpable for all of them.

Obviously Microsoft appealed and as the case drags itself into its umpteenth year it is worth considering just how much of the ruling is now relevant. The company has changed from being Windows-centric to being internet-centric business over the past 12 months.

Hailstorm and the .NET strategy are the biggest signs yet that Microsoft is not betting its future just on the bundled operating system that landed it in trouble in the first place. Software as a service is where the future lies, claims Holloway, following the corporate mantra. No more shrink-wrapped copies of Windows on the shelves of PC World. Perhaps.

As well as not being monopolistic the company is now open to other development languages, Holloway stresses.

Proprietary is not a word now likely to be uttered by any Microsoft executive. But can we believe this? Years of Microsoft watching indicates otherwise. But I was willing to listen.

XML and SOAP are now part of Microsoft's repertoire and the former is "critical to everything we do - we are embracing it and heavily investing in it for the long term," explains Holloway.

He said the company is now more open than it has ever been as showed with the .NET initiative.

I ask if this is anything to do with the outcome of the court case. "Absolutely not," he says.

"We started working on the .NET strategy internally two or three years ago." That's around the time the DoJ started to investigate Microsoft's business practices.

Instead, the software giant claims the move is all to do with industry standards. Java was not supported as it was not an industry standard, says Holloway, as he danced around the question of the reason behind Microsoft's Java battle with Sun Microsystems.

Java's promise to 'write once, run anywhere' was a fallacy, he says. XML, on the other hand, is a standard therefore it enjoys Microsoft's clout.

The software giant has also undergone a vast internal shuffle. Gone are many of the original group of executives who helped develop its browser strategy and destroy Netscape's market share.

Cameron Myhrvold, former VP of Microsoft's internet customer unit, and brother of former CTO Nathan Myhrvold, resigned in April 1999 just as the unit's dealings with ISPs were being closely scrutinised by the DoJ

Paul Maritz, group VP of platforms and applications, retired to his native Zimbabwe to work on environmental issues. However, sources at the company claim he was fed up with the insistence that Microsoft link its future to Windows - even after the launch of .NET.

Microsoft knows it has been heavily criticised for its arrogance.

"We are aware of the situation we are now in," says Holloway. "We are painted as the company that wants to take over the world and nothing will stop us. We are very competitive but are aware of the situation we are now in."

Surely not a sign of contrition? Not quite.

I left the interview feeling almost convinced. The stories were right. This man is smoother than Brylcream.

CEO Ballmer had better watch his back. I wouldn't be surprised if Holloway has an open ticket to Redmond in his briefcase.