Ballmer: UK at forefront of cloud revolution

Microsoft chief executive argues UK is an "innovation leader"

Steve Ballmer: We are way ahead of second-place on cloud products for business

Steve Ballmer praised the UK for its pioneering stance on cloud computing during a speech at the London School of Economics this morning.

Microsoft's chief executive also used the occasion to pan his rivals as he hailed the work the software giant is doing in the cloud.

He said: “I love where we are in the cloud. On the business side, I feel we are way ahead of whoever the current second-place competitor is.

“On the business productivity side – the capability, customers and production speeds – there really is no comparison to the other competitors.”

On the consumer side of the cloud, Ballmer admitted the software giant is up against some fierce opposition.

“We have great strength [on the consumer side] and some opportunity to increase our market share, certainly with Windows, Internet Explorer and Messenger.”

Despite this, he claimed consumers are the ones driving cloud adoption, but that enterprise is also slowly catching up.

Ballmer said: “Consumers are embracing the cloud almost implicitly. It is second nature to them. But, companies are also becoming increasingly willing to bet their futures and their use of technology on the cloud, too.”

And it will be the UK – together with the US – that will set the agenda for cloud going forward, he added.

“The UK is an innovation leader. Together the UK and the US, how we develop and create [with technology], will shape what goes on in the rest of the world,” he said.