Ray Ozzie

Ray Ozzie, the Lotus Notes creator who replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft’s chief software architect, lifted the lid just a bit today on a new startup that he’s been cooking up, a year after leaving the Redmond company.

It’s called Cocomo Inc., it’s focused on social interaction and communications, and it currently spans Boston and Seattle, according to a job post.

We’re hearing that Cocomo already has a small office in downtown Seattle, where a few employees are working remotely with the Boston-based team. Ozzie is listed as the company president in business registration papers that we dug up in the Washington state corporations records.

As noted by the Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner, who broke the story, former Microsoftie Matt Pope lists himself on LinkedIn as co-founder of Cocomo. Pope was technical strategist and adviser to Ozzie for more than three years at Microsoft, and previously worked for Ozzie’s Groove Networks.

So what exactly is Cocomo doing? Here’s the cryptic description from the company’s first public job posting: “A new day has dawned as it relates to how we might interact with one another, and a handful of us are just starting work on a new communications product for this new world.  We’ve got huge goals, pragmatic plans, and a sense of urgency. We aspire to deliver compelling tools for social interaction that people will use, value and love.”

Ozzie, who was occasionally spotted at startup events in the Seattle area after leaving Microsoft, still keeps a home here. A pioneer in collaboration technologies, he was named to succeed Gates as chief software architect  in 2006, when the Microsoft co-founder announced plans to step away from day-to-day duties.

He surfaced for the first time on Twitter earlier today, prior to the Boston Globe’s publication of its story.

“What a fantastic year it was,” Ozzie wrote in his first tweet. “On to the next adventure.”

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