Ballmer Touches on SaaS Upheaval
One of the things Microsoft promised partners for its Worldwide Partner Conference this week was a little more clarity on how the Live (a.k.a. Software plus Services or Software as a Service) initiative would affect them.
According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the net effect won't be much over the next year or so. "I don't think most of you should expect any major impact plus or minus from Live to the core of the business that we do together in the next year," Ballmer said during his WWPC keynote Tuesday.
But the company is asking for partner input, by adding a Partner Advisory Council to its existing array of these partner feedback panels. "We're announcing today the formulation of a Live Partner Advisory Council," Ballmer said. "As now is the time to build out the platform, now is also the time for us to come together and define the business model and the way we work together."
Saying the change from customer-based infrastructure to Internet-based infrastructure is inevitable, Ballmer added, "We at Microsoft have to embrace it, our partners have to embrace it."
Anyone have any thoughts on the kinds of issues this Live Partner Advisory Council ought to tackle? Comment here or send me e-mail at .
You can read Steve's keynote in full here.
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 2006