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Steve Ballmer gets a pretty generous cover story in BusinessWeek. It’s a fun read, but I don’t see much in the way of evidence that Microsoft has its mojo back. Yes, it has a pretty strong product lineup, and Kinect’s innovations could carry farther into the living room. But in NewNet technologies like social media, search and real-time, Microsoft isn’t showing much. I said the company might be one to watch in connected work this year, and every now and then I think Microsoft will build an ad network for Facebook. SharePoint is horribly complex and third parties are doing some of the innovating on top of it. But that’s sort of how a tech platform is supposed to work. If only Microsoft could build a more efficient marketplace around it – and maybe Skype could play a role in a grand unified communications scheme. We’re all watching.