Ballmer: Microsoft will stay in China
IDG News Service - Microsoft does not plan to follow Google's lead in pulling out of China, the software giant's CEO told news outlets on Thursday.
"We've been quite clear that we're going to operate in China," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in an interview on CNBC.
However, his hopes for China to produce growing revenue for the company seem to hinge on a thorny issue: a reduction of piracy and intellectual-property theft.
"China ought to be a source of growth," Ballmer said. "Intellectual-property protection in China is very, very bad. Abysmal. ... We're buying a lot of goods from China but the things that U.S. companies can sell -- pharmaceutical products, media, software -- it's all intellectual property and design, and that stuff's not getting paid for in China. It's got to change."
His reference to the problem of IP theft points to bigger challenges Microsoft could face if it decided to leave China. Microsoft has been battling software piracy there for years, and pulling out of the country could amount to it giving up the battle and allowing piracy of its products to flourish unchecked.
In the interview, Ballmer did not raise the issue of censorship or human rights, which Google said were central to its new approach to the country.
Google said Tuesday that it planned to stop censoring its search results in China after discovering the theft of some of its intellectual property during a "sophisticated cyberattack" originating in the country, and learning that Gmail accounts of human rights advocates had been broken into. It acknowledged that, as a result, it would likely no longer be welcome to operate in China.
Microsoft, Google and many other companies have been criticized for complying with China's censorship laws in order to do business in the country.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) Case Study - Oracle
- In this paper, Forrester Consulting examines the total economic impact and potential return on investment (ROI) realized by three Enterprise organizations as they...
- The Hidden Truth About Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications
- This IDG whitepaper highlights key findings based on the Quickpoll Survey conducted with more than 300 Enterprise and Commercial IT decision makers worldwide...
- Top 10 Myths About Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications
- Even though virtualization has brought positive change to enterprise IT over the last decade, some skepticism remains about how valuable virtualization can be...
- Enterprise Java Applications on VMware: Unix to Linux Migration Guide
- This guide focuses on key considerations for IT Architects who are in the process of migrating Java applications from UNIX to Linux as...
- Virtualizing Tier 1 Applications: A Critical Step on the Journey Toward the Private Cloud
- This IDC white paper explains how much of the Enterprise IT community is at a crossroads in extending their journey to the private... All Applications White Papers
- Live Webcast
Banish Poor Application Performance: Eliminate Business Disruptions, Increase End User Productivity - End User Experience, 30-Min Webinar
Wed. Feb. 22nd ~ 11 AM ET
Are you ready to gain the proactive ability to rapidly respond... - Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
- Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
- Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®...
- Discover the Benefits of Virtualization for Federal Applications
- Want to say goodbye to missed SLAs? VMware can help you virtualize mission-critical applications such as Oracle, MS Exchange and SharePoint to achieve...
- Reduce Application Lifecycle Management Costs with VMware ThinApp
- Traditional desktop application deployment and management is a time-consuming and costly endeavor for IT. From development to deployment, including help desk support, the... All Applications Webcasts