| Ballmer: Linux Changed Our Game [VARBusiness] |
Jul. 15, 2002
Speaking with Steve Ballmer at Microsoft's Fusion 2002 partner conference in Los Angeles, Rich Cirillo of VARBusiness gets some answers about Microsoft's strategy and response to the Linux challenge . . .
"Since the arrival of Linux, Microsoft has been forced to abandon its traditional value proposition of being the lower-cost solution in the IT industry and embrace a message that focuses more on the overall value of its solutions, says its president and CEO Steve Ballmer."
"Ballmer . . . said in this new competitive landscape, the software giant relies even more heavily on the expertise, contacts and value-added-services of its business partners to compete effectively against the Linux threat . . . "
"'We have prided ourselves on always being the cheapest guy on the block--we were going to be higher volume and lower priced than anybody else out there, whether it was Novell, Lotus or anybody else', said Ballmer, during a keynote that closed the event. 'One issue we have now, a unique competitor, is Linux. We haven't figured out how to be lower priced than Linux. For us as a company, we're going through a whole new world of thinking' . . . "
" . . . He also addressed the licensing changes that the company put in place over the last year, calling them an important part of a long-term simplification strategy . . . "
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