Ballmer says offline media is dead, keeps mum on Microsoft's offline software

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had some provocative prophecies to share with the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France, declaring that within 10 years all content will be online.

There won't be newspapers, magazines and TV programs. There won't be personal, social communications offline and separate.

But will there be Windows?

After all, the trend Ballmer spots in the media world is almost exactly the same thing that is roiling the software markets as software shifts to subscription-based cloud computing, a weak area for Microsoft but a strong one for Google.

Yes, Microsoft has Azure, an attempt to blend cloud services with on-premise software. But its cloud story remains a bit complex and the company doesn't seem overjoyed to be telling it.

After all, it has billions of dollars of revenue tied up in the old world of on-premise software installations. Who can blame it for dragging its feet on the way to the cloud?

Ballmer correctly noted at the conference that media companies have yet to figure out how to make money online. I guess it takes one to know one.

However painful it might be, Microsoft, like the print media that Ballmer eulogizes, must change. Microsoft must get online, and much faster than is comfortable. Otherwise it stands to lose to Google which has no built-in dependency on on-premise deployments.

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

[Lerianis3]

Yep, I have to agree with him: newspapers are deader than a doornail, and it's just time to acknowledge that they are.

[pentest]

So is Microsoft. In fact MS is less relevant then newspapers.

[CDubber]

And what better man to lead Microsoft to extinction than Steve Ballmer.

[Splashes]

Microsoft is just like a newspaper. Desperately hanging onto legacy cash flow, hoping the future doesn't come too soon, making only tepid attempts at adjusting to the new reality, dead but doesn't realize it yet.

[TwoWolves]

I wouldn't trust my personal data to an online service without a home/offline copy at least. Connectivity can fail as can businesses and then there is security and confidentiality to consider too. The cloud model doesn't appeal to me for anything more than my diary thanks and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Ballmer is a buffoon of a businessman, whatever he predicts is sure to miss the mark.

[fmathewsjr]

Apparently Ballmer hasn't tried to find a parking spot outside a Barnes & Noble lately.

[schammer]

Google does depend on on-premise deployments: Google Desktop, Google Earth, Google Toolbar, Picassa... am I missing any? Google may have blazed the trail for cloud applications, and some of the online apps that have followed that trail are truly outstanding, but the online offerings almost always lack performance and capabilities you can find in their locally-installed counterparts. Personally, I don't want companies taking control of my computing power -- I want to have a choice! We should stop looking to force every solution into corporate clouds, requiring companies to setup hundreds or thousands of servers (or Google's half-million++ servers) , with all the security risks and performance limitations of the internet. Instead, focus on pushing the envelope for software distribution, making it easier, more manageable, and less expensive. Also, we need to look at how we can create our own Wi-Fi-based local software sharing networks, legally licensed, allowing service providers to setup shop at a local level to dish up software to a network of users (or at least to a whole household). Microsoft, you rule on the network -- instead of talking about killing it, focus on empowering more types of users to reap its benefits.