Ballmer takes potshots in India at Microsoft's competition

Sufia Tippu
Sunday, 12 November 2006 13:08

IT Industry - Market

“We have the Vista and Office 2007. A lot of people will be impressed by these, and also by what we offer in Zune and what they have seen in XBox 360. We continue to gain share in terms of the core platform to build applications - .Net versus Java; Windows versus Linux. So there are a lot of areas where we have made fantastic progress. And they (Google) are the search leaders. I agree they are the search leaders. It’s nice to have a good competitor.”

Search is the entry point for many people on the Web. It is also the entry point for corporate intranets, and it will continue to be one of the most sought-after applications on the Web.

“With the media moving into an interactive zone, digital advertising would emerge with multiple touch points like Web, video, mobile and gaming consoles,” Ballmer added

Unlike corporate leaders who are wary of directly naming their competitors in public, Ballmer had no qualms about mentioning IBM, Google and Yahoo while talking about the competition.

When asked why the regulators were coming down heavily on Microsoft, his blunt reply was success.

“They are going after our success. Our competitors, most probably IBM, I’d say, have worked hard to get the government to be its ally on the regulatory front. I find it unfortunate but it apparently is the way of world.”

And, did he agree with analysts who predict that the bulk of innovation in next 10-20 years will take place in Asia?

 “There will be a lot of great innovation coming from many parts of the world. I am not going to say that per capita you are going to get more innovation in Asia than you will in Western Europe and in the US.

“I frankly do not think it depends very much on national origin. I actually think it depends on people. And so it is a bit of a random shot – where are you going to find the next great entrepreneur... he might happen to be in India, might happen to be China, in Seattle, Atlanta, in Germany. So I don’t think great innovation is as sensitive to national origin as it is to individual talent and people,” he said.