Ballmer on Cloud Nine and Windows 7
It's got to be great to be Steve Ballmer. He's obviously got plenty of dough
and thousands of smart employees, and I highly doubt he ever flies coach. And
because he's the CEO, he can say whatever he wants. Where others in Microsoft
are gun-shy and afraid to say the wrong thing, Ballmer can be bombastic, insulting,
fun and inspiring -- and he talks about details other execs would never disclose
(at least, not without written permission, or perhaps after the product ships).
Case in point: At a recent Gartner event, Ballmer talked in general terms about
Microsoft's upcoming
cloud OS, one that will host Microsoft apps running over the Internet. He
was more specific about Windows 7, indicating that it's really an extension
of today's Vista but focusing on performance and what he calls "cleanup."
He added, "Essentially, the way I'd characterize it -- it's Windows Vista,
a lot better. Windows Vista is good. Windows 7 is Windows Vista with cleanup
and user interface, improvements in performance."
Posted by Doug Barney on October 21, 2008