Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a crowd in London this week that Microsoft this month will show off its new development environment for internet-based applications, dubbed "Windows Cloud".

Steve Ballmer
(Credit: Microsoft)

Although the term is new, Microsoft has been widely expected to unveil its cloud-based developer platform at the Professional Developer Conference at the end of October. Ballmer's comments, reported on Wednesday by IDG News Service, are the latest in a series of mentions of a cloud-based developer platform. Ballmer was asked at last week's Churchill Club speech about Red Dog, the company's rumored answer to Amazon's EC2 service.

Ballmer declined to comment about "Red Dog," but promised Microsoft would have much more to say at the company's PDC. Ballmer also said Red Dog and other cloud computing efforts were key to winning the battle for developers, particularly web developers.

"I think at the end of the day, cloud computing will be dictated by the interests and the degree to which you capture the imagination of developers," Ballmer said.

Microsoft unveiled its Live Mesh effort earlier this year for consumers, but promised that developers would be able to write their own Mesh-enabled applications, with tools coming at the October PDC. Microsoft executives have recently suggested an even broader look at Microsoft's cloud-based strategy will come at the event.

In his London speech, Ballmer also reportedly said Microsoft would soon allow "light editing" of Office documents over the Web, again according to the IDG report.

"That's all I can say on that," Ballmer was quoted as saying. "Otherwise, we have no drum-roll announcement in a month."

Microsoft's Office Live Workspace currently allows for online storage and viewing of documents, but not the editing offered by Google Docs and other online services.

A Microsoft representative was not immediately able to confirm, or comment on, Ballmer's remarks.