REDMOND—Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tried to offset some of the fallout from what Wall Street sees as the company's hedging on when Windows Vista would ship.

In a talk about shareholder value at its annual financial analyst meeting at the campus here on July 27, and after the company's stock fell more than 2 percent or $0.50 to a market close of $23.87 on Vista shipping concerns, Ballmer stressed that Microsoft would never take as long to ship another version of Windows.

"Some of the things we work on will take a number of years, but we will never repeat what happened with Windows Vista again. We won't ever take five years to develop another version of Windows," he said.

Ballmer also talked about how it was necessary for Microsoft to have a long-term approach and invest early and heavily in new products and technologies, which does not always yield a speedy return.

Citing its investments in nascent markets for the software maker like the HPC (high performance computing) space, Ballmer said these investments would take time to yield a return.

"We have to value all kinds of innovation. We need to be able to innovate and build on our own, and we also need to be able to buy innovation," before looking at the spending and investment opportunities and challenges that faced the company, he said.

Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Ballmer Tries to Offset Flak Over Vista Ship Date