By focusing on the end-user (Vista, Office 2007), Microsoft delights the user with fun and functional platforms at the risk of alienating their core constituency: the IT professional. If you didn’t catch the cnet interview with Steve Ballmer about life after Vista at Microsft, you should.What’s striking to me is how new his message is. He spends a great deal of ink talking about how MSFT is focusing on end-user innovation (e.g. Office 2007), completely slamming the IT groups in organizations. Wow.10 year ago, if you had a capable, fast, Internet-connected, email-laden computer at home — you were a rarity. At work, most people had the cutting edge technology, and had to deal with lesser (if any) capabilities at home. No so now — the average user (even my mother) has a much more capable computer with programs that are easier to use and more intuitive than any enterprise application. While Steve recognizes this shift, he doesn’t acknowledge that in order for Micorosft to remain relevant, the IT world has to continue to embrace their products. This includes Vista. How many of you work for/manage organizations that have 2 tiers of users — the average user in the organization, and then the ‘special few’ — the creative/design folks that must use Macs. In prior lives, this always frustrated me — can’t they use what everyone else uses? Standards, standards, standards. It makes perfect sense to have them. However, the standards mantra has been co-oped by a groups of no-talent, lazy jerks (or CIOs) in an attempt to quash any form of creative application of technology (read: uncontrolled) in an organization. This won’t work anymore — people know that computing should be easier and much more fun. The end user is about to be come king.Where does Microsoft factor into this? Microsoft was always the ally of the standards-obsessed CIO of the past (as long as the standard was Windows). Now, with true innovations like Vista and Office 2007, Microsoft is again focusing on the end user. This risk is the total alienation of the IT folks that have been paying Microsoft’s bills for a decade.It’s a pretty big bet (but really, the only one they can make). I think it might actually pay off. CareersTechnology Industry