Delightfully understated Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been seen praising Twitter.

However while normally that is an indication that he is about to open his cheque book and buy the company, it is not true in this case. Ballmer said the popular microblogging site Twitter, long the subject of takeover speculation, may be better off remaining independent.

Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have already secured partnerships with Twitter and word on the street was that some big outfit was going to buy it out. But Ballmer said during an appearance at a technology conference that Microsoft's partnership with Twitter may be more valuable to the software giant than acquiring it would be. Ballmer said that he would hate to not have that partnership. 

"Whether we need to own the company or not I think is far less clear. As an independent they have a lot of value and a lot of credibility, I think, with their user community," Ballmer continued. He doubted that Twitter would have the same credibility with the user community if they were captive to Redmond.