Exclusive Interview With Steve Ballmer: Products, Competition, The Road Ahead »

The first of a number of parts as Mike interviews Steve Ballmer. Very interesting stuff.

Of note, while he mentions both Linux and Apple, Ballmer will not refer to Google by name and only calls them “the incumbent (in search).”

Also, watch through to the end when Mike almost humorously asks about Twitter, but Ballmer gives a very serious answer.

“Twitter’d be great, yeah. I mean, not that we’re talking about buying Twitter… I mean, the Twitter guys want to stay independent, that’s great.”

Read: We have talked to Twitter, but they don’t want to sell.

Not that it’s all that surprising. Undoubtedly, all the big names in the web space have probably talked to Twitter at this point, and will continue to.