Ballmer Says Bing Shows Microsoft's Tenacity

In a Tuesday keynote speech at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Ballmer infused his now-customary analysis of the economic situation with a refreshing tangent on Microsoft Bing and how it applies to the channel. Drawing a parallel to Microsoft's close relationships with partners, Ballmer said Bing is "as good a demonstration of our tenacity and commitment as anything you've ever seen."

"Our track record of having that tenacity turn into success has been quite high, and that's why many of you keep coming back," Ballmer told the more than 6,000 partners who crammed into the keynote hall. "Because if we can't turn our great ideas and tenacity into success, then you'll go to someone else's partner conference."

Despite the rough economy, this is the "most phenomenal year" that Microsoft has ever had in terms of product releases, Ballmer said, referring to Microsoft's coming launch wave over the next 18 months that starts with Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 and later moves onto Office 2010, Windows Azure and other key releases.

Business intelligence, search and portals remain keys to Microsoft's business because these technologies have only scratched the surface in terms of the efficiencies they'll offer to businesses, Ballmer said. In fact, Ballmer said the "most frustrating question" he gets from CEOs has to do with the difficulty of finding the information necessary to make business-related decisions.

To maintain its pace of innovation, Microsoft in fiscal 2010 will maintain its R&D spending from the previous year, sinking $9.5 billion into the various parts of its business, Ballmer said. That's no small bet given the state of the economy and the lack of concrete signs that a recovery may be just around the corner. "This is the toughest market that any of us have ever worked in," said Ballmer, echoing the message of many of his speeches this year.

The world isn't in a recession, nor is it in a depression, but an economic reset, Ballmer said. "Literally, the world got overheated. Business and consumers borrow too much money, and that fueled purchases they couldn't afford."

While many economic factors are outside Microsoft's control, customer satisfaction is one area that can be changed and improved in order to help the business, Ballmer suggested. "Economic turmoil has placed a premium on businesses that can grow share by giving customers the absolute best experience with all of Microsoft's products," he said.

Productivity will be the key to renewing economic growth and innovation, and there is even more premium today on IT as a business than ever before, Ballmer said.

"This is going to be an IT-driven renewal of growth, and that gives us all fantastic opportunities," Ballmer said.