Speaking at an analyst conference in Washington, the chief executive said Microsoft is planning high-end versions of Windows and Office for both desktops and servers.
Ballmer hinted that a new Office Premium product was being developed for the next-generation of Office.
He also mentioned a new concept that we call the Office Server. It will have associated with it a new premium client access license, Ballmer said.
And when you take a look at all of the premium work that we’re doing in management and security and e-mail, we think about a new premium client access license also for our Windows product. All of that drives new value, he said.
Ballmer pointed out that the Professional edition of Windows XP drove literally billions of dollars of revenue growth versus the home edition.
We will also introduce higher-value versions of existing products that really help us drive new growth and new value. We have plans in the Windows Vista generation to introduce an enterprise edition, he said.
Other areas of growth for Microsoft are software for cell phones, interactive television and computer game consoles, he said.
