I managed to pop in and catch Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, speak at “Liberation Day“, in Sydney yesterday and was pleasantly surprised, not only by his presentation style but also by the things that he had to say.

Unfortunately there was no Monkey Dance during his arrival on stage – but there was enough quirkiness and passion in his speech that, whether or not you buy into the Microsoft dream, it’s hard to deny he is a refreshing change from the robotic CEOs of many other leading tech firms.

As expected, he continued the recent PR around Microsoft’s new Cloud Computing Services Platform – Azure (can someone please work out the correct pronunciation for this one quickly? Already we’ve heard “ajour” “assure” “asia” “azooer” …).

I thought the best stuff came in the Q&A session, though.

The first interesting remarks came in response to a question about whether Microsoft intended to create an app market, following on from the iPhone and Facebook lead, so developers building apps on the MS development platform would have the same chance to make some money. 

…No one is making any money out of iPhone or Facebook apps

First of all Ballmer claimed that no one is making any money out of iPhone or Facebook apps. It was a little disappointing to hear him say that. People are making money by coding for these platforms…maybe not Ballmer-style dollars, but money never the less. Discredit your competitors, by all means Steve, but try to stay factual.

Secondly, he hinted at a Microsoft App store coming soon that might be similar, but not exactly the same, as iPhone / Android / Facebook app markets. This may very well be further proof that the rumoured Windows Mobile 7 “skymarket” may actually become a reality. Then again, I got the feeling that this would be more than just a pure mobile play – but time will tell.

What else did he have to say? I’m glad he jumped in on the Telstra/Government debate saying that hi-speed broadband is critical for enabling next generation services and that rather than continue bickering it was “time to get onto it”.

He also mentioned that technology is making software development one of the most creative and interesting jobs going round at the moment. I tend to agree, and I’m not even a coder.

You can check out his whole presentation at the Liberation Day website.