Because he's a very savvy politician. Ballmer is certainly not an idiot, but his main skill has always struck me as being an arrogant asshole who won't be inti

Because he's a very savvy politician. Ballmer is certainly not an idiot, but his main skill has always struck me as being an arrogant asshole who won't be intimidated by anyone. He's not a brilliant strategist; he's the unstoppable force that pushes to implement the strategy at all costs. You want a guy like Ballmer on your side because he gets deals done. Whether or not those deals were the right deals is another question. Contrast him with a guy like Steve Jobs -- Jobs was a brilliant strategist who understood the complex interaction between design, customer needs, technical capability and supply chain. He was also fired from the company he founded because he wasn't able to get what he wanted in a way that ensured the people above and beside him got what they wanted. Jobs had far more success when politics were removed from the picture -- he was a de facto dictator at Apple during their most successful period. He was an effective leader and a pragmatist, but he also had absolute power within Apple so he never had to negotiate internally from a position of weakness.