The famed outspoken, loud-mouthed Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer once again hit the headlines for making some peculiar comments on Thursday at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York during a webcast interview with the BusinessWeek Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler.

Ballmer said Microsoft is still interested in acquiring Yahoo to develop a search powerhouse that could edge out Google. He said that Microsoft is interested in Yahoo, not for its technology, as Microsoft already has ample of technology, but for the volume of the searches.

Ballmer said, "It's really about getting the pooled volume, because you actually can improve your product faster if you have more users. The more users you have, the more data you have about what users are interested in. The more users you have, the more advertisers you get. That doesn't just help with revenue. The more advertisers you have, the more relevant you can make the ads."

Ballmer said he talked to Carol Bartz, Yahoo's new CEO over the phone, after she took over last month. He said has known Bartz for years as a straightforward, friendly person.

He said, "If I want to talk to her about something, when she's ready, we'll have a real discussion because she's that kind of a person, whether a deal gets done or not, who knows?"

When Adler asked whether the Microsoft CEO thinks there will ultimately be a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo, Ballmer replied, "I think there are a lot of things that are fairly compelling economically in trying to put together our two search efforts in some kind of a partnership. Obviously, I spoke fairly strongly economically with the bid we made last year. I got bailed out of this economy by Yahoo on that. But it speaks to the fact that I do think there is a fairly compelling set of economics that underpin the idea of a search partnership, and, unless I'm fooling myself, over time I would expect there's a good opportunity for a deal."

Besides, Ballmer also commented on Apple. He revealed his altercating theory on, why Macintosh sales dropped 16 percent in February (according to the NPD stats). He said, "The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment -- same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."

When asked to comment on Apple's market share growth in computers, Ballmer replied taking a dig at Apple.

Ballmer replied, "Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction!"