The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.
Steve Ballmer - Technology - Learning - Innovation - Solutions

The lifeblood of our business is that R&D spend. There's nothing that flows through a pipe or down a wire or anything else. We have to continuously create new innovation that lets people do something they didn't think they could do the day before.
Steve Ballmer - Technology - Innovation - Products

We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we're in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There's no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.
Steve Ballmer - Innovation - Customers - Belief

I like to tell people that all of our products and business will go through three phases. There's vision, patience, and execution.
Steve Ballmer - Products - Business