Microsoft’s grand plan to eliminate phone numbers | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

More timely sleuthing from Mary Jo Foley

I’ve been puzzling over transcripts of a couple of recent speeches by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates where he discussed his vision for the end of phone numbers. But it wasn’t until today, when I learned more about Microsoft’s “Echoes” services platform for telcos that I began piecing together how Gates & Co. thinks Microsoft can do this.

The looser coupling among identities, devices, and service providers is a bigger-picture trend, e.g., with SIP and services such as Google GrandCentral.

Given the global reach and user base of related Windows Live services (for identity, authentication, presence tracking, contact management, rendezvous, etc.), Microsoft is in a very good position to help accelerate the looser-coupling trend.

Microsoft’s grand plan to eliminate phone numbers All about Microsoft ZDNet.com