Today at the Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft took the verbal gloves off: During his keynote, CEO Steve Ballmer mocked Apple’s Mac sales numbers. He compared the number of PCs sold in the last twelve months, some 350 million units, to what he called roughly 20 million units sold by an unnamed, but much hinted at competitor. As it was quite obvious that Ballmer was referring to Apple in his comparison, we looked into the 20 million unit sales claim....

Update: Please see the bottom of the post Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer is a galvanizing figure, that cannot be denied. Whether he is a good CEO has been an open question as of late, as calls for him to step downhave mounted. Today, at a Seattle Rotary Club lunch, Ballmer refused to quit, and told the crowd that: “You tell me if I have the energy, conviction, passion … or drive....

Today at the Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer pitched a cloud-based future to the global community of the company’s partners. Microsoft has been moving towards the cloud for some time, Ballmer noted, saying that five years ago, the cloud was merely something that was mentioned. Three years ago it was a topic, and now according to Ballmer the promised disruption of the cloud is a reality. Last year Microsoft told its partners that it was “all in” on the cloud, and it seems that Ballmer had some fear that partners would balk at the transition....

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is always an entertaining person to listen to. Whether you love or hate his work, the man has a forceful personality that imbues his words with enough conviction to keep anyone interested. The USA Today was granted an interview with the man himself, and we have taken the time to extract the best, and juiciest quotes for you to enjoy. If you wish, you can readthe full interview here....

Today at the Microsoft Developer Forum, CEO Steven Ballmer promised that the ‘Mango’ update to the Windows Phone 7 platform, due late this year, will contain over 500 new features. The update is widely anticipated by users to contain a large enough raft of new capabilities to put the phone line on par with market leaders iOS and Android. Carriers, handset manufacturers, and other services such as Skype are also anticipating the Mango update as it will allow them to more flexibility and control in creating phones, selling them, and developing applications for the line....