There was not a word about the next-generation Windows 8. There were no big ticket investment announcements for India and not even a single dig at rivals.

When Microsoft's energetic CEO, Mr Steve Ballmer, took the stage to address corporate India at a CII event on Thursday morning, he, uncharacteristically, chose to steer clear of controversies and big declarations.

Instead, Mr Ballmer took the packed audience on a futuristic tech journey, crystal ball gazing into tomorrow's defining trends.

He showcased a tomorrow where your ‘digital avatar', complete with your facial expressions et al represents you at virtual meetings in cyberspace.

But what really got the audience cheering was his future vision for India in which he saw 300,000 new jobs being created in the next five years in the areas of cloud computing. He said that cloud computing transformations will enable businesses to drive productivity and urged the Indian developer community to build cloud applications that would not only be relevant for the local markets but also for global markets.

“These are super interesting, super vibrant times,” he said before waxing eloquent on India's tech prowess – 1,300 companies that operate as independent software vendors, 1.4 million software programmers, and 11,000 system integration firms.

Praise for IITs

PTI reports: After a visit to IIT-Delhi, Mr Ballmer hailed the research work being done by the students and faculty and interacted with professors there.

He wanted to see some of the “finest and brightest” Indian minds with him at his office.

moumita@thehindu.co.in

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