Ballmer No Cheerleader For IT Spending Recovery

If you're of the mind that an IT spending recovery is just around the corner, you might want to put on earmuffs before listening to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

During a trip to South Korea this week to drum up interest in Windows 7, Ballmer told executives at an event in Seoul that the still-chilly capital markets will preclude any near-term IT spending recovery.

"The economy went through a set of changes on a global basis over the course of the last year which are, I think is fair to say, once in a lifetime," Ballmer told executives, as reported by the Associated Press. "While we will see growth, we will not see recovery."

It's the same message Ballmer has been sending throughout the course of this year, and it reflects Microsoft's stance that any eventual IT recovery will be driven primarily by productivity and innovation, as opposed to debt.

Ballmer has downplayed Windows 7's impact on the moribund PC industry, despite an abundance of evidence of widespread pent up demand for the new operating system. "There will be a surge of PCs but it will probably not be huge," Ballmer told reporters last month at a press conference in the Netherlands.

In July at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, Ballmer told solution providers not to expect the economic situation to improve anytime soon. "This is the toughest economy any of us have ever worked in," Ballmer told WPC attendees. "The economy is going to reset at a lower level. That's inevitable."

Instead of hard-selling Windows 7, Ballmer and other Microsoft executives have instead focused on the efficiencies and cost savings it can offer customers, particularly when deployed in conjunction with other Microsoft products like the System Center management portfolio. Microsoft is well aware that its sales pitch for Windows 7 must be presented in a way that resonates with CIOs' ears.

"At least 60 percent of the job of getting business support is Microsoft's. We have to help you make the business case," Ballmer said in September at Microsoft's "The New Efficiency" event in San Francisco. Ballmer also said companies will save between $90 and $160 per PC annually in costs related to help desk, desktop management, deployment and provisioning tasks.

With Windows 7, Microsoft faced the challenge of having arguably the most important product launch in its history coincide with the worst economic downturn since World War II. And the company has been hammered for several straight quarters. Going back to basics and girding for continued economic difficulty are Microsoft's way of setting what it feels are the right expectations.