Microsoft to be mkt leader in gaming console biz: Ballmer

Q: You are here in Mumbai to address the developer conference. We want to know a bit more about Microsoft’s relationship with these developers. How Microsoft plans to groom fresh developers in India and what’s Microsoft’s strategy behind this?

A: India is graduating about 30% of all the world’s computer sciences, coming out of the universities here. And so, we have got to be active telling our story, showing developers  what they can do with our new technologies and we are showing some hot new web technologies here like Web 2.0, web graphics, TV, mobility etc.

Q: How does this time with Microsoft’s own web strategy?

A: Microsoft is trying to do two things - providing tools to the world to build exciting new web experiences and at the same time with our MSN and Windows Live, we are trying to build own direct experiences.

Q: How do these developers plug in to the experience that Microsoft will bring in via Live?

A: Let me give you an example, we announced this week a thing called SpaceLamp, which provides 3D maps, pictures and photos of the world and those can now not only be viewed on our website, they can also be linked-in to applications coming from the kinds of developers we are talking to.     

Q: So Web 2.O mash ups?

A: Web 2.0 mash up is perfectly a fair way to say it.

Q: Windows Vista is coming up, at the end of the month it’s going to be available to businesses. What are your expectations from that?  How is that going to impact Microsoft’s perception as far as security and reliability is concerned?

A: Windows Vista is the best released Windows we have ever done; easier, more exciting, new applications and perhaps the most secured, the most reliable version of Windows we have ever done.

Q: As far as UI enhancement (user interface enhancement) is concerned, where does that leave you because there are quite a lot of things, which are very new to users, and they have been used to a certain style. Windows XP changed that a bit, Windows XP Service Pack 2 added to that even further. Windows Vista is probably the most radical change that has even been done in UI and alongwith that, the samething has happened to Office; there is a great new UI, which has come up. But don’t you think it’s a bit too radical a change?

A: We have now millions of better users who will tell you that it takes a small amount of getting used to but then they love it and they never go back. So we have millions of people already who have tried these products who tell us they love the new user interfaces.

Q: What about Microsoft Office. What are your expectations from the new version, it has a lot of new features, few new tools, which are out? Explain a bit more about the tools, which we are going to see new in Microsoft Office?

A: Microsoft Office has two kinds of constituencies or customer types that it has to address, one, just for focus like you and me, it is going to make us more productive and we have redesigned the user interface. So really people can take advantage of all the power that is there and that very compelling and then we have added a set of new features for good old users.

But for the business itself we have not only done that we have also hooked Microsoft Office into a wide variety of what’s call them Office Business Interactions. How do I find information on my corporate network, how do I communicate with other people real time inside the corporation, how do I analyze business information, how do I participate in business workflows in Office 2007 for the business enables all of that.              

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