Microsoft’s future up in the clouds. No, really.
By James • Mar 5th, 2010 • Category: Industry News
- Photo: Microsoft
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, has said the company will move more and more of its business to cloud computing as time passes, so much so that their new tagline for the service is ‘we’re all in’.
90% of mental focus, physical effort
Speaking at the University of Washington for the first time ever and amidst much anticipation by the college’s students, Ballmer said that a full 70% of Microsoft’s current workforce is focused cloud computing related work. By the end of next year, he expects 90% of the company’s workforce to be involved in cloud related work.
To put that figure into perspective, with respect to how much engineering talent and man power Microsoft is throwing at the problem, the company employs
93, 000 people around the world. Ballmer’s most acute quote to describe how big of a deal this is was, ‘we’re all in’ and ‘this is the bet for our company’.
A different side to Ballmer
Given Microsoft has been uncharacteristically consistent across the board with how good their work has been of late, it should come as little surprise to hear Ballmer say uncharacteristic things. Never one to disappoint, Steve Ballmer praises Apple and Google both, unarguably the two biggest competitors the company has.
- Photo: Apple
Speaking of Apple, he said that they’ve done a ‘nice job’ with their iPhone companion in the form of the app store, suggestive that he would like to replicate what’s good about it with Microsoft cloud computing initiatives as well as Windows Phone Series 7. And in answering a question on whether this newfound business focus is more reactive than proactive, he readily admits the company is following Google’s lead in a market that Google themselves didn’t exactly create, but certainly trailblazed.
Interesting strategy
- Photo: gynti_46
Given anecdotal evidence, this may seem premature. Microsoft has just sold 90 million copies of Windows 7 in under six months, making it the fastest selling operating system of all time, suggesting their business that isn’t cloud computing-related is still doing well. Then again, though, it’s probably best that the company kills its own cash cow than someone else doing it, as the competitive space in technology evolves rapidly and, it seems, Steve Ballmer is not ignorant of this.
Tags for this article: cloud computing, Steve Ballmer
