Briefly: Ballmer quits, telcos support Tics, GCSB warnings

Steven Ballmer has resigned from Microsoft.

Officially Ballmer says he will step down within the next twelve months. Some reports say Microsoft’s board pushed Ballmer to resign because of the failed move into hardware devices like the Surface tablet.

Either way, it’s clear the company needs a change of leadership. Under Ballmer’s watch Microsoft went from being the world’s most powerful technology brand to an also-ran.

It would be easy to dismiss Ballmer as a buffoon, especially after his monkey boy antics, that would be unfair. Ballmer got some things right, he got things wrong. His hit rate dropped over time. But let’s not dismiss the man’s legacy, after all whether we like it or not, his company and its products have touched all our lives.

• New Zealand Telecommunications Forum CEO David Stone says the nation’s telcos support the new spy bill obliging them to give surveillance agencies backdoor access to data. Stone told TV3’s The Nation the Telecommunication Interception Capability and Security (TICS) bill was an improvement on the 2004 Act which had deficiencies.
• Meanwhile Mega CEO Vikram Kumar worries that the government will be able to access communications secretly. He fears consumers may lose trust in New Zealand service providers and companies like Mega will be forced offshore. See Mega: Don’t expect privacy online.
• Cloud management specialists GreenButton adds support for GridFTP paving a painless, faster way for companies to move data from existing systems to the cloud.
•  Local listed security software specialists Wynyard wins a large risk management deal with Queensland Rail.