Coming right on out and gettin' with it, Redmond's "Bulldog" Ballmer laid it down for real to an audience of several hundred in Santa Clara, CA, according to eWEEK:
Alternative business models, like that of Linux and open source and Google's advertising model, pose the greatest competitive challenge to Microsoft, CEO Steve Ballmer said May 11.
Furthermore, Ballmer eschewed equivocation by placing the responsibility for success directly on his own (i.e. Microsoft's) shoulders:
"The greatest competitive threat we face is our own ability to either embrace or compete with alternative business models," Ballmer said.
Finally, another shoot-from-the-hip statement rounds out the substance of his remarks:
When asked... to choose between IBM or open source as the threat he most worries about, Ballmer quipped that IBM is then no longer in the game.
Yikes, Steve! Now that Big Blue is a Big Dud, what are Ballmer's thoughts on competing with open source? Nothing new here, Microsoft will continue going after the total cost of ownership angle rather than worrying about procurement costs. Google? Merely ape their advertising business model, bring lots of resources to bear, and try to be both better and more relevant.
Ballmer wraps up by talking startups (Microsoft has acquired 22 in the past year), and his thoughts on BitTorrent and Facebook.
If you take the time to read through the eWEEK article, I think you'll agree that it really sounds like Microsoft sees Google as the big threat for the foreseeable future. One wonders if Microsoft even considers the various Windows OSes its core product at this point.
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