Steve Ballmer On Microsoft’s Vision: “Defining The Future Of Productivity, Entertainment, And Communication

In an interview to MIT Technology Review, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discussed about various things related to Microsoft starting from Surface to their future vision. When asked about Surface, he said that Surface is a real business, and Surface can never attain the sheer volume of total no.of PCs shipped each year. Read the following conversation about Microsoft’s vision which I think is the interesting part of the interview.

I understand Google’s vision for the future of computing. I know what Apple stands for. I used to understand what Microsoft stood for. I no longer know. What’s your vision for the company?

I would simply say we’re about defining the future of productivity, entertainment, and communication—in the new world [where] software is going to have to come in kind of an integrated form. Or at least a well-designed form that includes cloud services and devices.

And is that why Windows 8 is important? Because, for the first time, Microsoft is delivering an “integrated” experience across all important devices with software delivered from the cloud?

If you want to do productivity, communications, and entertainment, you’re going to do it on multiple devices, and you have to do it in a coherent and consistent way for the user. You’ve got to support the different input modalities. The living room is different from the phone, and productivity at the desk is different from productivity on the go. So, yes, Win8 and the Win8 family of devices are super-important for supporting our broad vision.

Read the full interview here.