Steve Ballmer retire as CEO of Microsoft

[Joacim Andersson]

This was announced today.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/...ncementPR.aspx

[Niya]

Wow....He was with MS for so long, practically a founder. I wonder how much this would change things at MS.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I think it's a good move. I don't think he had the drive of a Gates or a Jobs, and was too willing to get along. My impression has been of more of a manager/cheerleader rather than a leader.

[dunfiddlin]

Did he jump or was he pushed?

[Joacim Andersson]

I think it's a good move. I don't think he had the drive of a Gates or a Jobs, and was too willing to get along. My impression has been of more of a manager/cheerleader rather than a leader.

My intention when I posted this was to only relay the news but then again I have do agree with you to a certain point. Ballmer is a salesman and have never ever been anything but a salesman. Unlike Bill he's not a technician nor a programmer (but then again neither was Steve Jobs). Things change and a great leader recognize that and make space for someone that might lead the business into the future.

Steve has done that, without jumping or being pushed...
In is own words: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/...atementPR.aspx

[dunfiddlin]

Steve has done that, without jumping or being pushed...

Aw. Your faith is touching but, in view of the complete disaster of W8 and especially Surface, I suspect more than a little naive!

[Joacim Andersson]

I'm not naive, I just don't like to jump to any conclusions without knowing the facts. Doing so is also known as inference-observation confusion. People that does that tends to become besserwissers or in some cases fraudulent fortune tellers.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he left on his own will. I have no doubt that he cares about the company. If he looked at the future and decided that he didn't know where to go next, out the door is a reasonable and responsible choice. I don't know that being a coder is important, but both Gates and Jobs were known for being pretty demanding. Balmer didn't seem to have that same willingness to bruise people in pursuit of a vision.

[kfcSmitty]

Seems you guys were a little too optimistic.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...e?pageNumber=1

[Shaggy Hiker]

Rather a mixed message in that article. It starts by saying he was forced out, then spends much of the second page saying that he had been planning to retire for some time.

[Joacim Andersson]

Seems you guys were a little too optimistic.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...e?pageNumber=1

If a journalist says it then it must be true since they never exaggerate anything to sell their news.

[kfcSmitty]

If a journalist says it then it must be true since they never exaggerate anything to sell their news.

Do a Google of it and see all of the market evaluations and other sources that have found the same information. But of course, your opinion is worth a thousand times more than the people in the mass media whose entire job it is to track this kind of information down.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I doubt that it is really either here or there, in this case. It looks like they pushed, but it also looks like he didn't really resist.

[dilettante]

In any case I don't expect this to do much except for Wall Street reactions.

Microsoft has bigger staffing problems than Ballmer by far.