steve ballmer microsoftAssociated Press

Hey there! We're going to be live blogging the Steve Ballmer interview at the D8 conference which starts at 11:00 eastern.

We couldn't make it to the conference, so we'll be keeping an eye on the blogs of Engadget, All Things D, and CNet. We'll also keep an eye on Twitter. We'll take all that and put it into a nice digestible format.

Steve will be on stage with Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect.

There's a lot to talk about. Apple beat Microsoft in market value last week, and Apple's profits are gaining on Microsoft as well. The iPad is a hit, with everyone at the conference talking about it. Microsoft has nothing to fight it, yet.

If all that wasn't enough, we ran a poll yesterday asking if Bill Gates should return to the company. A whopping 80% of the respondents said yes! In another poll we ran asking if Ballmer should be tossed, 75% said yes. Ballmer does not have the full faith of the people. Let's hear what he has to say!

Our notes:

10:55: Ballmer starts at 8:00 PT, 11:00 ET. We're waiting...

11:07: People told to take their seats and get quiet

11:15: Ina Fried at Cnet says Ray Ozzie and Steve Ballmer "don't speak together that often." So this should be interesting to see.

11:17: WSJ managing editor Robert Thomson is introducing Ballmer.

11:21: And Walt Mossberg walks onto stage with a wand...because of all the 'magic' talk at the conference.

11:23: And, they're out! Steve and Ray take the stage.

11:24: Walt starts slow, asks about the economy. And Steve says he's seeing things bounce back. Tech in particular is "revved" up.

11:26: Ballmer says China's IP problems are not good. He sees it as problem for tech in the future.

11:28: Walt asks about Microsoft's cloud efforts. What does it mean for Micrsoft to be all in with the cloud?

11:30: Ray says it's all very exciting, we're at point where there's standards developing and we can share more, more easily. It's great that devices can be constantly connected. Ray says he's telling people to forget about the past and start thinking about how people are using programs like Office now.

11:31: Ballmer jumps in and talks about the "smart could" which connects to "smart devices." He says local computing is still important. Apps that execute locally, but connect to the cloud seamlessly.

11:34: Ballmer continues, you'll see cheaper devices that don't need to be as powerful. They'll be smarter. They'll execute locally, but the cloud will help them lighten their loads.

11:36: Ray chips in that devices will be feel more cached than installed.

11:37: Ballmer says there is nothing bad in this trend for Microsoft, either. He says it's all good. In times of tumult, Microsoft can excel. Says we're moving from a world that's good for us to a world that's even better for us.

11:38: Walt asks who is the competition for Microsoft? Ballmer says Oracle, Google, VMware Apple, and open source folk like Firefox and Linux.

11:40: Walt asks about why it's so hard to sync our computers still.

Ray responds that Microsoft is working on ActiveSync. He says its hard because we are spreading data across the web. The industry needs to agree on meta-data that all can use. The bottom line seems to be that there's not a unified system in place.

11:45: Ballmer says it's a challenge in a number of ways. There is an innovation problem, do you want to share certain things and not share certain other things. What goes where, how do you maintain it all. Getting the UI right is a big challenge.

11:47: Ballmer also notes that privacy is always a problem when storing information on someone in the cloud. There needs to be transparency.

11:48: Walt asks if they agree with Steve Jobs that tablets are the future of computing.

Ballmer says he thinks that PCs are here to stay. He thinks they could get lighter, maybe lose a keyboard, maybe a few other changes, but they're not going anywhere. He also adds that not everyone can afford 5 devices. Poor people around the world are looking for an affordable solution to computing problems. Getting a tablet that can't do everything just won't work.

11:51: Basically Ballmer is saying that our definition of the PC will change. What we think of as a heavy duty computer today will be much more lightweight in the new few years.

11:53: Walt: So you're saying the iPad is a PC?

Ballmer: Yes! Tell someone everything it does and they'd call it a PC. Ballmer joked, I was in a meeting the other day and someone tried taking notes with it. That was interesting. The crowd laughed. He then said calling the iPad something other than a PC is just marketing.

11:56: Walt asks if Microsoft will have a tablet too.

Ballmer says yes. Walt asks if it will look like Windows. Ballmer says Microsoft is working with many hardware makers on a number of form factors. Some will look like Windows, some will be customized. He says there will be competition around the form factor.

11:59: Walt asks about Android getting on tablets. Steve trots out the Microsoft line: Linux was popular on netbooks at first, and now it's not.

12:01: On the tablet front, Ballmer argues that people won't want specialized devices. The bulk of the market will want a general purpose device.

12:04: Walt asks Ray what he thinks of tablets. Are they ready for the general audience? Ray gives a boring answer, but Ballmer jumps back in and says look iPads will look more like PCs and PCs will look more like iPads in the next few years. The race is on between our companies. Apple has its 3% marketshare. The iPad has momentum, the race is on.

12:07: Walt says, but the Macs have done very well even during the recession. Ballmer says they had heck of a quarter. The Mac isn't leaving anytime soon, but they make nice computers and we make even nicer ones.

12:09: Walt asks about the big re-org. What happens with the mobile team reporting direct to Ballmer?

Ballmer says Microsoft had an employee that wanted to retire -- Robbie Bach. And it didn't make sense to have another layer of management, so now Andy Lees, the mobile boss, reports straight to him.

Ballmer admits Microsoft missed a cycle in mobile. It is behind, but the mobile market is in flux so Microsoft has a chance to catch up.

12:14: Now Walt asks about rivals.

RIM: Ballmer says they've done a great job on enterprise, but they've made nice strides with the consumer. Their platform is less robust than anyone else, but they're number one in the US because they excel for people that want to communicate. (think he's referring to great email on BlackBerry.)

Nokia: Ballmer says he lives here so, he's skewed. But Nokia is doing well around the world.

Apple: Ballmer says they came from nowhere, and they have a following. Apple really did a good job with the browers. People focus on the apps but the browser was a much bigger deal.

12:19: Walt asks if the fact that Nokia and RIM don't do PCs could hurt them.

Ballmer says it's possible. The Internet was designed for the PC, then optimized for search. Without an understanding of that, Nokia and RIM could be hurt. Then again it could be an advantage becuase they don't have the same legacy issues. They're starting from scratch.

12:21: Walt asks about Google as a rival on the phone:

Ballmer says they're a real rival on the phone. On the larger screens, who knows. Ballmer adds that it's weird they have Chrome and Android as two operating systems. Ballmer says we're trying to be more coherent and they're making things more complicated.

Ray Ozzie then steps in says that Chrome is a bet on the future, and Android is a bet on the past.

Ballmer says, then why have two? One's just an aid.

12:26: On to Bing! Ballmer says we're seing gains in share, one of the few search engines to see that happen. Microsoft has its work cut out for it going against a "behemoth."

Walt says, you're calling Google a behemoth? Ballmer says it takes one to know one.

Ballmer says Bing is working on helping people take action. When you search, you don't just want a list of websites, you want something that helps you take action.

12:30: Walt asks if Ballmer agrees with Steve Jobs that the world doesn't want a stylus for its tablets.

Ballmer says, do we want to take notes and draw? What's the best way to do that? Ballmer does believe people want to take the things that they do on paper with pencil and apply it to new technology.

Ray says the software has not kept up with hardware on this front. And software architecture will change.

12:33: Onto the Q&A. First Q is on China: Ballmer says there are hackers everywhere in the world, including China. He would not put his employees in harms way, but he doesn't think it's a good idea to pull employees from China. We are staying in China to make a difference and help transform the country.

12:35: Next Q: Any advice for Google and Apple on dealing with the government and antitrust? Ballmer: Nope, but I "wish them good luck getting lots of experience." Big laughs to that.

12:36: Next few questions are snoozy...what about health care, what about media, how do you make battery life better on a laptop (we're working on it.)

12:38: Do you think that your decision to only do software, as opposed to hardware and software like Apple or RIM, will hurt you?

Ballmer: Not one approach. We did Xbox. We are working with hardware companies.

12:40: What about Silverlight versus HTML5?

HTML5 has made some nice things, but Silverlight is still good. Walt asks if it will be on the iPhone. Ballmer says no way! If could be on the iPhone, I'm sure it would be blocked.