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.