Makiwa

I attended a TechNet event in London today where Steve Ballmer gave the key note. The whole event was called “Technologies to Change Your Business: How Customers Are Implementing s Strategies” and while we were bombarded with Hyper-V, SQL Server 2008, Silverlight and WPF two tech tidbits that I took away with me were

• The next version of Windows server - which Ballmer dubbed Windows “Cloud” for want of a better word - will take cloud computing to the next level.
• When asked if MS will offer an Office-as-a-service product to compete with Google Apps, Ballmer said yes. However, he balked at using the term “compete” when talking about Google Apps, which he doesn’t regard as serious competition - and nor do I for what it’s worth. He said there would be a “click-to-run” Office Live type thing (I’m imagining Click-Once) as well as a cut-down, browser-only offering for when you want to do some “light editing at an internet café”.

The funniest thing was at the end of the keynote. Ballmer was asked if he would mind re-enacting his “monkey dance/developer, developer, developer” craziness. Being the good sport he is, he then lept about on the stage chanting “IT Pros, IT Pros, IT Pros…I LOVE IT PROS!!!!”.

The trip to the Southbank was worth it just for that.