Ballmer barmy about providing high-end services
Ballmer barmy about providing high-end services
Jul 29, 2005: Microsoft is planning to advance the capabilities of Windows and Office so that they will include server options and be suitable for high-end desktop systems in the future.
This is the message from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who joined Bill Gates and other top executives recently to outline the company's overall financial strategies in fiscal year 2006 and beyond.
Ballmer said that the company could not grow without innovation. "We'll achieve that growth not only by focusing on our anchor businesses but by competing and winning in a wide range of new services - many of them based on advertising or subscription revenue - and by creating a new portfolio of products that meet the growing needs of our customers.
"We see synergy across what we do in these areas: synergy in user experiences, in the way people build and manage software, synergy between entertainment and communication scenarios, information access, and business and e-commerce."
Ballmer added that there is evidence of the link between innovation and growth at Microsoft reflected in the revenue generated by the company. He said that Microsoft's revenue grew from US$25 billion to US$40 billion and its operating profits climb from US$12 billion to US$19 billion over the past five years, while its total spending on research and development has increased by 25 percent.
Ballmer also provided a chart that showed that Microsoft's share of the total operating income among 25 leading information technology companies has grown from 18 percent to nearly 23 percent over the same five-year period.
As for the future, Ballmer said that Microft is embracing the challenge of keeping up with rapid innovations in mobile computing devices, real-time communications, Internet-based services and other areas where the company faces stiff competition.
"Here at Microsft, it is absolutely a job-one priority to not only keep up with these shifts but to help drive them and shape them."
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