"He noted businesses providing "cloud" based services from companies such as Microsoft would grow faster than those providing hosted versions of Microsoft's software."

Strewth, Stevie boy is way out of his depth in the Cloud environment if he thinks that there will be any companies like Microsoft in Virtualisation.

Is that why Bill jumped ship, .... for he realised that the ITitanic had sailed into Icy Waters and the company have no Life rafts for Passengers and/or Crew? If he's twice as clever as he thinks he is, he may even be able to invent another fortune rather than bluff and buffett his way, trying to hold on to his credibility whilst the dollar store is emptied ....... although it may very well be that the Microsoft model is to recognise and buy up Future Talent rather than it being any Innate Invention Facility of their Own.

But they [Steve and Bill] are not alone in their Virtually Real Ignorance, for Joe Tucci also appears determined to be a massive loser...... although I suppose they all think that they are Leaders rather than just Hubrists

Cloud Players do not need Parasitic Hosts and they are SMART enough to ensure that, should they encounter them, they are drained of their resources and reduced to just an empty shell corporation/monumental memory of folly if they continually resist and ignore Virtual CHange Plays.

"There will be businesses that you're in today that won't exist 10 years from now because the technology will have advanced so far." ...... Is there anyone taking bets that one of missing/extraordinarily rendered will be Microsoft?

And is Mendel Rosenblum still playing with Joe Tucci/Sleeping with the Enemy?

Yeah, until they decide to stick a ribbon interface on it for no reason whatsoever. Or replace the menubar with a single round button.

Not all change would be bad though. Is there any reason why F3 is 'search' when looking at your inbox, ala roughly 50% of other Windows software (the non-ctrl+f stuff) but F4 is 'search' when reading an email (in common with no other application I'm aware of)? Or why, when it's set to "hide when minimised" (so that its in the system tray but not on the taskbar when it is running but not displaying a window), the 'X' button closes the entire application? Messenger seems to be the precedent for that sort of behaviour, but its 'X' button just causes it to do what would be minimising were it able to go to the taskbar. Probably still less confusing that Words two 'X' buttons and inability to decide whether its a multiple document interface application or a single document interface application.

Possibly my point is that part of embracing competitors who have used the AJAXy, venture capital route to sneak past Microsoft's desktop monopoly is that they don't suffer from such "we've got to keep the old interface but also embrace the new interface" problems.

& he has his head well and truly in it!

are only available when the entire path between you and the service is available.

Google, despite its massive online ability, just recently learned that it's not that easy to ensure.

And Apple has just demonstrated how easy it is as a customer to have your data compromised when your primary hosting organization falls for a mundane social engineering trick.

By not placing my data online, I am keeping it 100% available when I need it and I am ensuring that no one else can access it without my express consent. That is good enough for me.

"Or why, when it's set to 'hide when minimised'... , the 'X' button closes the entire application?"

Umm... Because the "X" button is the CLOSE button? "Hide when minimized" means exactly that -- when MINIMIZED (hint: the "_" button). Even an application that hides when minimized should close when told to close.

That is all because of the Microsoft Perverse Logic (R) which is an unequivocal proof that MS is run by aliens (hence the first post was made by amanfrommars, which is in itself another unequivocal proof that we are witnessing a cash of titans ...or europas ...or tritons for the world domination who chose to make IT their battleground).

Microsoft need to wait for the successes of Google and others to know what to copy next. For now, their idea of a cloud is a fluffy white fuzzy thing in the sky.