Global crisis hitting IT spending: Microsoft

Companies worldwide are slashing spending on information technology because of the global downturn and will have to learn to do more with less, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said Monday.
Ballmer, on a visit to South Korea to promote the newly-released Windows 7 system, said IT spending represents about half of all capital expenditure in developed countries such as the United States and South Korea.
"With capital more scarce, we know IT budgets are more scarce," Ballmer told chief information officers (CIOs) from local businesses.
"There is going to be pressure in businesses to drive for a new level of efficiency."
Ballmer said the global economy went through a set of "once-in-a-lifetime" changes last year.
"So it's important that we're not saying we just had a crisis and we are going to have a recovery. We are going to live in what we like to call the new normal.
"The new normal will be a more scarce environment than we saw a year, two years, three years ago. While we will see growth, we will not see recovery," he said, citing a 15 percent drop in global personal computer and server sales.