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What did Ballmer do right though? I'm serious.

Kept Microsoft's enterprise licensing rolling along to continued substantial profits, both by tending to existing "franchises" (Windows, Exchange, SQL Server) and launching new ones (SharePoint is now something like a $2B business).

Ballmer is a sales guy at heart, and I always suspected that his staying power at the company had much to do with his relationships with Microsoft's largest business customers. That someone like the current Ford CEO is considered a candidate to replace him only reinforces that impression.

Alans an engineer from what I recall?

Sure. My point wasn't that they're considering bringing in another sales guy, but rather they're looking for someone who understands the large enterprise market. Microsoft and its shareholders fear nothing more than waking up to headlines about 100,000+ seat companies, like Ford, launching initiatives to get off of Exchange and onto Gmail.

Oversaw the transition to .Net. He really does seem to care about developers (I say this as a Linux dev who still misses intellisense).

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