Steve Ballmer presented a lengthy keynote and partner session at the
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Minneapolis. Below is the complete
transcript of the session.
Steve Ballmer
It is my honor, privilege, excitement, to be here with you today. For all the
things I do -- and many of you have had a chance to hear this many times as I
travel the world -- but everything I get to do working for Microsoft, there's
one thing that's most energizing for me -- one thing, one thing -- meeting
with our partners. And you say, this guy gives this line to every audience he
meets with. Nooo.
What's special about this group? What gets me particularly pumped up? What is
particularly exciting? Our partners are a unique blend, you are, of two
elements. Number one, you've made a bet on us. You believe in us, you want us
to win, you need us to win. You're kind of like employees... (more)
“As I think about the last 30 years," said Bill Gates, commenting on
Microsoft's 30th birthday, which was celebrated yesterday at an unusual
Annual Meeting held in Safeco Field in Seattle, "I’m most proud of our
making 'big bets' on technologies like the graphical user interface or Web
services and watching them grow into something people rely on every day."
"And the long-term research we’re doing today on some of computer
science’s toughest challenges – such as helping computers listen,
speak, learn and understand – will lead to what I think wil... (more)
BEA Systems has announced that the company has extended its vision of an
integrated suite for service-oriented architecture (SOA) with its new
AquaLogic Data Services Platform 2.1 (ALDSP).
ALDSP 2.1 is designed to help application developers and SOA architects
automate the process of service-enabling their data to build composite
applications such as Web applications and portals. The product now features
support for Microsoft ADO.NET, providing tooling and runtime support designed
for transparent interoperability with .NET applications. This new feature
gives users the ability to... (more)
Well, we know one thing about the next, post-Vista, desktop Windows. It's
code named Windows 7 now, not Vienna, and Microsoft is taking another round
of blood oaths about it not taking five years to see market although it
already looks like it's been pushed back.
Microsoft says it's "scoping Windows development to a three-year time frame
and then the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting
the quality bar."
Three years, of course, would be 2010 and Microsoft previously suggested it
would be 2009. Anyway, the company has started talking about it with folks
... (more)
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo!
Inc. Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo!
common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity
value of approximately $44.6 billion. SYS-CON.com here brings you the full
text of the letter that Microsoft sent to Yahoo!'s Board of Directors:
January 31, 2008
Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer
Dear Members of the Board:
I am writing on behalf of the B... (more)