Ballmer upbeat about IT industry prospects

Those in the channel looking for some good cheer will have been cheered by comments made by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about the state of the economy.

In an event last night in Silicon Valley, according to reports, Ballmer spoke about the buoyancy in the IT market pointing out that the global nature of the industry made it more immune to downturns in one or two particular territories.

"Our industry is not immune to what goes on in the global economy. And yet as I travel...given the current circumstances, people still see a certain buoyancy in the market," Ballmer told an audience of civic leaders, according to Reuters.

The rest of the message coming out from the software vendor appears to ape Apple’s recent mantra with Ballmer promising that Microsoft will get itself positioned at the centre of the digital universe.

Ballmer is due in London next week to outline the latest thinking on the software plus services approach the company is taking to cater for the growing demand for hosted applications.