That's the sort of managerial problems that can only be solved from the top down. Shake-ups, reshufflings, and some good old fashioned ass-kicking can begin tur

That's the sort of managerial problems that can only be solved from the top down. Shake-ups, reshufflings, and some good old fashioned ass-kicking can begin turning the ship around. A lot of Apple enthusiasts like to say "Apple's excellence isn't just Steve Jobs," but I think in the case of Microsoft, one can reasonably say "Microsoft's brokenness is just Steve Ballmer." I think he's almost completely blind to pretty much everything that's happening in his company, and the tech world at large. I'm not really sure what value the board think he adds. I guess something to do with sales and marketing, given his background, but it's not like Microsoft's image is doing all that well either. One other MS subdivision I forgot to mention that are doing well is Bing. They're doing some great work. I'm not sure who they report to, and what their level of autonomy is.