It’s not often that you get invited to chat with the head of one of the largest companies on the planet. So when you do, you take advantage of it. Oh, and you take notes.
That’s exactly what
Vince Mayfield did when he was invited to be part of the annual Microsoft Partner CEO Roundtable with Microsoft’s CEO,
Steve Ballmer. As one of only twelve partner businesses in the U.S. to be invited, Vince was initially surprised saying, “
Bit-Wizards is a small company compared to the others invited. It was a huge honor to be included, but we couldn’t have done it without all the help from our account managers in the Southeast. Mike Ward, the Southeast Managed Partner Area Sales Manager, has been a great advocate for Bit-Wizards.”
At the event held at the Atlanta Ritz-Carlton, each of the partners had an opportunity to personally ask Steve Ballmer one question while he took notes. After all the questions had been aired, Ballmer addressed each one, reinforcing the idea that Microsoft partners bring added value services to the table with each engagement.
During the hour-long discussion, the Microsoft CEO spoke on the importance of the upcoming Windows 8 launch saying, “Microsoft is betting the farm on Windows 8 . . . it is the biggest thing since Windows 95 . . . and the most important.”
With roughly 93 percent of the total operating system market share, Windows is a platform that reaches into a very large audience — reaching both consumers and enterprises.
Ballmer assured everyone at the meeting that Microsoft would always be a Windows company, but that he believes that all user interfaces are going to become highly-touchable. This idea is present in the Windows 8 Metro user interface, where there is a consistent look, feel, and motions across small screens to large screens, including Microsoft’s Xbox.
Reviewing his notes, Vince pointed to a list of the top three things Ballmer said was on his mind. First, the shift of the user interface to smarter systems and different form factors. Second, the importance of how everything is moving to the Cloud. And third, how people want to do new things.
“He’s a really animated guy”, Vince says. “But unlike a lot of people who you might see talking in the public arena, he’s the same guy on stage delivering a key-note speech as he is sitting across the table talking to you about user interfaces.”