According to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, the Redmond Company's focus for the next decade will be Internet Services. Moreover, Ballmer revealed that Microsoft will place a "bold bet" on web-based services. "We believe this shift is the most important technological transformation during the next decade," stated Ballmer at the Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting. In the past, Ballmer also stated that Windows Live is a bigger Microsoft priority than Windows Vista.

With Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System out the door, Ballmer is also giving a preview of Microsoft development focus for the next decade. In this context, Microsoft features a vision of the evolution of Internet-based services as a concert between web and desktop services. In this aspect, Microsoft fails to brake itself from the tradition represented by the PC-based software and adopt Google's vision of online software as a service. Meanwhile, Google holds the absolute dominance over Internet services and Microsoft online division is a black hole for the company's funds.

"As we look to the future, this fourth core represents our big bold bet on the shift to software plus online services," Ballmer added. In all fairness, Ballmer is the architect of Microsoft's diversification of its core businesses. In this regard, it is of little surprise that he considers Microsoft's online services group the company's forth core alongside desktop software, computer server software and the entertainment division.