"The question is," he continued, "will you have the passion and the tenacity and the interest to really start something that's important?"

He also discussed Microsoft, where it's been and where it's going, the future of technology and why 'now' is important to entrepreneurs. The video, embedded below, is well worth watching, particularly given Ballmer's 29 years of first-hand experience with one of the world's most innovative technology companies.

Steve Ballmer's Tips to Entrepreneurs

Look around you

Look around you at the people you know, find good people, those are the people to trust when you start something.

Be patient and work hard

Some things that wind up being really important take more than ten years to become really popular. Ballmer points to Windows, SQL Databases (Oracle), Google. While he admits there are a "few exceptions," for the most part it's about hard work

Don't let others dissuade you

"My parents thought I'd lost my mind to drop out of Stanford Business School to go to a company that makes software," Ballmer said. "My dad said 'what the heck is software' and my mother said 'why the heck would a person need a computer?'"

We've embedded the video of the lecture below; it runs about 58 minutes, the first 25 consist of his talk, the rest is made up of Q&A and it is well worth your time if you're considering inventing something new.

At another meeting in Sydney, Ballmer also announced that Microsoft was definitely not interested in reconsidering an acquisition of Yahoo.

According to the Associated Press, Ballmer clearly stated his disinterest in going back to the negotiating table with Yahoo anytime soon. Just two days ago, Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang said that he would consider another offer from Microsoft. Ballmer, however, also acknowledged that "some kind of partnership around search" might still be an option.

Microsoft and WebKit

Looking at the video of Ballmer talking about Webkit (he talks about it at about the 38:50 mark), it quickly becomes clear that Microsoft has no interest in supporting WebKit. Ballmer talks about the importance of web standards and how Apple used WebKit for building its own browser. Ballmer also states that he feels confident about Microsoft's ability to develop interesting browser technologies itself.

While it would surely be interesting if Microsoft did indeed use WebKit for its browser, and while it would also make sense on many levels, it seems that we are still a long way off from seeing an open-source based Internet Explorer.