Microsoft Corp, the biggest software maker, expects its software for servers to make up as much as a fifth of total sales in "several" years, from 12 percent currently, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said.
"For the next five years, [server software] will probably have the No.1 growth potential," Ballmer said at the Fortune Global Forum in Hong Kong. Microsoft's products for servers will grow faster than its other software, he said.
The Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, which generated about US$3 billion in revenue from server software in the last five years, is trying to compete in a market dominated by companies such as Oracle Corp and Sun Microsystem Inc.
Oracle's database software, the company's best-selling product, is more expensive than similar programs made by Microsoft and International Business Machines Corp, the second-largest software maker.
"We see it as a chance to add value," said Ballmer. "The application today for businesses are too hard to build and they are too expensive." Separately, Ballmer said he is confident that Windows XP, Microsoft's new version of its Windows operating system, will become popular with consumers.
"Windows XP really takes the next step in terms of getting people into the world of digital media," said Ballmer. "From the consumer perspective it's a slam dunk winner." Window XP, which will be available in versions for home and professional use, is Microsoft's biggest upgrade of its PC operating system since Windows 95 was released in August 1995.
About 90 percent of PCs run on Windows.
"We have targeted the [XP] launch by the end of October," said Ballmer. "At some point we have to make sure our manufacturing partners, computer resellers all understand." The new software is expected to boost sales in developed PC markets such as the US, Japan and Australia, where individual consumers and busi-nesses buy PCs to replace older ones, analysts said. Top PC makers such as Dell Computer Corp are counting on Windows XP to reverse an industry-wide slump.
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