He has never quite achieved the iconic status of his college pal and the world's wealthiest person Bill Gates, but billionaire Steve Ballmer got his share of attention on a trip to India last week.
Ballmer made the rounds, meeting India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top officials, visiting the offices of the business daily The Economic Times, where he donned the hat of guest editor for a while, and engaging in well-publicized discussions with prominent Indian businessmen.
With the prime minister, Ballmer reportedly discussed Microsoft's strategy for India, including the company's efforts to make its Windows operating system available in new local languages. Last year, Bill Gates had said the Redmond, Washington-based firm would spend $1.7 billion over four years to expand its India operations and hire more employees.
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Ballmer even tapped into the country's two passions: cricket and Bollywood, publicly meeting with director Yash Chopra and cricketer Anil Kumble, both of whose companies use Microsoft products.
There weren't too many embarrassing questions about Microsoft's unsatisfactory growth the last few quarters. The Economic Times did dare to mention the global giant's problems with 'regulators.' To which Ballmer said: "Clearly, our competitors, most probably IBM, I'd say, have worked
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