Today at Forum 2000, Microsoft announced a new generation of software, called Microsoft .NET, that will enable every developer, business and consumer to benefit from the powerful combination of a variety of new Internet devices and programmable Web services that characterize the Next Generation Internet. PressPass spoke with Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer to find out what this new platform means for Microsoft's overall strategy, and to clarify what it will bring to businesses, consumers and independent developers. Corporations tell me that their Web sites aren't doing enough for them, that they want to interact more productively with their partners and suppliers. They tell me they don't have the systems they need to make that happen efficiently and easily, and that their employees often have a hard time finding the information they need.
Small businesses say that they want an inexpensive, painless way to take advantage of the Internet.
Developers tell me it's too hard to make applications work well together over the Web, and that they're writing the same code over and over again just to do really basic things. And consumers just want a simple, unified way to access the Internet and manage the increasing number of devices they use that are connected to the Internet. We realized that we're in a great position to make all this happen. We've got the experience building platforms, driving industry standards and supporting the developer community. We've got the patience to build a platform over several years, backed up by a solid long-term vision and a massive commitment to research and development.