Steve Ballmer has a message for developers: if you want your software to be accessible to the great masses of computer users, you better keep making Windows applications. During a surprise appearance at the BUILD developer conference, the CEO of Microsoft said that 500 million machines will be capable of running Windows 8 when it goes live. “It’s a time of unprecedented opportunity for developers and betting on us will be valuable,” he said. “It’s the day and age of the Windows developer. Let’s move forward together and seize the opportunity for developers, developers, developers.”
Ballmer also said that his company is “reimagining” itself and its Windows operating system. However, he promised backwards compatibility for legacy apps running on future versions of Microsoft products.
