In zijn keynote-toespraak op MIX was Microsoft-baas Steve Ballmer opvallend open over wat hij vindt van de concurrentie. Hieronder geven wij puntsgewijs zijn interessantste uitspraken.Over waarom Microsoft Yahoo wil overnemen: "Search is the killer application for online advertising...We're not where we'd like to be, we probably could have gotten going a little sooner, particularly on search and search related advertising."Over Google:
"Online, it's Google, Google, Google. "We are an underdog in this particular battle."
Over Apple:
"Apple does a good job. Apple does a nice job in music players. They're going to continue to do good work and we're going to continue to compete with all the vigor and energy."
Over de MacBook Air:
"It's missing a bunch of features."
Over HD DVD:
"We thought there was a lot of merit to HD DVD. We worked to provide an HD DVD peripheral. As the industry moves forward, we want to support Blu-ray. Toshiba's moved on, We've moved on. We'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."
Over de deal met Facebook:
"For us, not only having small partners but having big partners is very important. Microsoft is happy to be an owner, happy to be a partner."
Over Firefox en Internet Explorer:
"We're investing as heavily as we ever have. There's a lot more of the IE8 story to be told, when we talk about end user features."
Verder:
* Ballmer denkt niet dat sociale netwerkdiensten een hype zijn
* Ballmer gebruikt een verscheidenheid aan Windows-mobieltjes; Motorola Q, Samsung BlackJack, HTC Dash.
* Microsoft wil Silverlight op de iPhone krijgen. Maar Apple wil licenties van ontwikkelaars
* Ballmer is blij dat de iPhone Microsoft Exchange gaat ondersteunen omdat dit het platform waardevoller maakt.
* Ballmer krijgt 60 tot 70 e-mailberichten per dag. Zijn e-mailadres is steveb@microsoft.com.