Innovation Alive And Well At Microsoft, Ballmer Says; Company Plans Big Advances; Microsoft looks to ward off threats from open source and Web-based services.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN

Microsoft will spearhead more advances in the next year than at any time in its 30-year history, says CEO Steve Ballmer, dismissing critics who say Google, Linux and other upstarts are eclipsing a lumbering giant.

Speaking Wednesday at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., Ballmer cited the firm's upcoming product rollout as proof that Microsoft hasn't lost its edge -- even if other companies are hogging the limelight.

"If you read the newspapers, Google is doing everything but curing cancer," he told the audience of around 6,000 people. "The truth is, we've got our heads down. We've got very smart people just …