Microsoft’s Ballmer declares war on Apple

Steve Ballmer, the bullish CEO of Microsoft, has outlined his determination to stop Apple having things its own way in its key markets.

Admitting that Microsoft has in the past ceded some of the boundary between hardware and software innovation to Apple” the exec would have the world believe that the upcoming Surface tablet represents a changing of the tide.

"We are trying to make absolutely clear we are not going to leave any space uncovered to Apple," he told CRN. "We are not. No space uncovered that is Apple’s.

We have our advantages in productivity. We have our advantages in terms of enterprise management, manageability. We have got our advantages in terms of when you plug into server infrastructure in the enterprise.

"We are not going to let any piece of this. Not the consumer cloud. Not hardware software innovation. We are not leaving any of that to Apple by itself. Not going to happen. Not on our watch. We’re not going to leave any stone unturned, so to speak, as we pursue that."

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