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Ballmer: All Media Will Be Digital By 2018

In an interview with The Washington Post, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer riffs on the future of media, claiming that in ten years, all media will be delivered over the Internet. "In the next 10 years, the whole world of media, communications and advertising are going to be turned upside down -- my opinion," Ballmer said. "There will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form."

Ten years is an awfully short amount of time, but Ballmer's premise for the quick turnaround is that if content producers and advertisers want TV to be more interactive with better targeted advertising (and they do), then the content will be delivered over an IP network.

People should be able to watch their favorite sports games and interact with those watching it at the same time, just as a video gamer with an Xbox Live can play against someone in another country. Ballmer added that there will be far more producers of content in ten years. We're starting to see that today, "but we've just scratched the surface," he said.

Read the whole story at The Washington Post »

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