The CEO of Microsoft Corporation, Steve Ballmer has expressed his strong belief that, cloud computing the next big thing on the web and that this technology will lead Microsoft and its customers to new heights of opportunities and success. Speaking at the University of Washington, he confessed to the fact that, Microsoft is in fact quite behind in the smart phone race, but emphasized that, the company is indeed one of the leading supporters and users of cloud computing and that, this technology along with the Microsoft Azure platform has risen Microsoft to the levels of a market leader.

According to Mr. Ballmer,

“The cloud fuels Microsoft and Microsoft fuels the cloud. We have 40,000 people employed building software around the globe, about 70% of the folks that work for us are doing something designed exclusively for the cloud or designed to serve one of the five points I spoke about today. A year from now, it would be 90%. How we are thinking about delivering it really builds from this cloud base.”

In his address, Steve Ballmer stated that, cloud computing invokes cloud creates opportunities and responsibilities, where in the technology is able to provide opportunity to create content and share it globally in real time. However, he stressed on the fact that, this technology also comes with great responsibility, that primarily focuses on user privacy and confidentiality. Furthermore, Mr. Ballmer said, he was looking forward to increase the reach of could computing to both private and public sectors and has expressed his vision of providing essential components to companies and individuals who would be interested in developing and maintaining their own cloud services.

Via ZDnet