Ballmer Quits!

Well on the back of the reorganisation, Ballmer announces his retirement - causing a boost in the MSFT share price:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23815316

It's a bit of a surprise, and it's a little unfair to call him unsuccessful.  MSFT have maintained profitability on existing sectors - they've been patchy on new areas, although not for want trying on things like Windows Mobile, and the ill fated Windows 8/RT.  I must admit even I could see RT was a turkey - the need to recompile for it, it was just never going to be easy.

So it will be interesting to see who is next to give things a go.  They are a big company with a lot of power, they need to work out how to become a commercial brand to supplement the existing enterprise.  Also rather than throw their weight around, embrace some of the things like open source, interoperability to make them more appealing - rather than an empire whose products are needed out of necessity.