Jul 15
WPC Day #2 – Steve Ballmer Speech
Paul Hillman
I started work in 1981 (old!) and entered consulting in 1984… so I’ve been consulting for many years.
People say I’m good at “speaking the truth”, meaning I’m willing to stick my neck out and share my opinion. I generally have a positive outlook to life, like and value fresh new ideas. I’m a big talker, sharing what I think as I think it. I generate a lot of ideas but I also check myself by saying “98% of all ideas are crap!”. Of course, the world runs on the 2% of ideas that are GREAT!
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Steve was just as pumped and energetic as always. He never seems to disappoint.
As most of you have heard, 2010 will be one of the biggest (they keep saying THE biggest) launch of products in Microsoft’s history. The “wave” of products being released is, in fact, quite impressive.
The biggest, by far, bar none, is Windows 7. After significantly stubbing their toe on Vista, Windows 7 is probably the biggest bet they have out there. They REALLY need people to accept this and not “freeze” as they have on XP. There has been NO WORD on stopping support on XP in order to force Windows 7, and I think that would only occur if the world doesn’t move their on their own… in other words, they are trying to use the carrot, and not the stick.
Ballmer talked about the economy being “reset” and not in a depression, recession, etc. During this reset, don’t necessarily look for a rebound, but to “mind out P’s and Q’s” and grow out of this, year by year. I don’t think he sees a huge uptick next year, but a gradual growth curve, perhaps taking several years to get back to “pre-2009″ levels.
Microsoft has a strong vision according to Ballmer, and I’d have to agree. Here are some of the longer term “bets”.
- Cloud computing – 2010 Wave and Hosting Services
- Azure – cloud computing development environment
- Phone – multiple form factors
- Multi-touch input (surface computer)
- Natural user interface
- Bing for search
- Silverlight for improved web graphics
He really went into the amount of $$$ MS is investing (all in Billions).
- $5.1 Windows 7 and IE 8
- $0.90 Mobile
- $2.2 in server
- $2.8 enterprise infrastructure
- $1.6 search
- $7.6 Communications and Productivity (UC, Office, MOSS)
I really liked the $7.6 billion in UC and MOSS… that’s a LOT of money!
He stated that Microsoft is tenacious, patient, and partner centric, and I’d have to agree. They certainly are patient, and they have the resources for the staying power they need. (Remember a little browser called Netscape?)
You can’t seem to leave a Ballmer presentation without feeling better about your relationship with Microsoft.