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Friday, May 19, 2006
Ballmer Talks Linux, Security, SaaS
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pegged three key areas of focus for Microsoft this year: competing with Linux in the high-end server market, software as a service (SaaS) and Internet advertising. In the case of open source, Ballmer said Microsoft has made a decision to stick with a more traditional corporate business model vs. going the open source route. He said Linux has been outselling Microsoft in areas such as file services, e-mail security and e-science, and that demonstrates that the Redmond, Wash., software marker needs to innovate. “We need to have a better high-performance cluster technology that Linux does,” he said. “It hard to beat open source on initial cost of procurement; it is not hard to beat open source on total cost of ownership,” he said.
Microsoft is late to the SaaS party, unveiling it’s hosted-services game plan last fall. Over time, observers expect the company to roll out an array of hosted business applications as well.
Last week, Ballmer and a phalanx of other Microsoft executives took on the whole notion of ad-based revenue and defended their decision to pour money into MSN.