Steve Ballmer - I Love This Company!

Who doesn't know the "Steve Ballmer - I Love This Company" video? If you missed it so far, here you go! I bet he does, since I have no doubt about Microsoft's generosity, when it comes to its own CEO, but I am sure a lot of people are asking themselves - when is he going to step out of the spotlight and leave someone else at the helm? Good question, but I am afraid the answer might be that Steve Ballmer will be the one leading Microsoft until his death...or pretty close to that final hour! ;)

Before moving on to the latest details about the main question of the day, I think I should try to answer some of the frequently asked questions about Steve Ballmer. Born in 1956, he has been the CEO of Microsoft since January 2000, and is the second person, after Roberto Goizueta, to become a billionaire in US dollars based on stock options as an employee of a corporation. Married with one children, Ballmer got the 43rd position in Forbes 2008 World's Richest People ranking, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion. Any other questions? Oh, yeah, if you're one of those wondering about Steve Ballmer's salary, you may be disappointed. Why? Take a look here to find out more!

Now, if we leave all the above aside, hearing Steve Ballmer shout or seeing him dance can compensate the blue screens some people get in certain situations, just as it happened when Bill Gates got creamed by a pie!

First interesting report is coming from ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley: "Last time CEO Steve Ballmer offered a tentative timeframe as to when he might retire from Microsoft, he put the date at ten years or so from now (around the time his youngest goes to college)."

Well, ten years wouldn't be that much, but the funny twist is that Foley also said that, "According to scuttlebutt from Microsoft’s annual employee meeting, which was held in Seattle on September 18, Ballmer told attendees that he is going to stay on at Microsoft until Microsoft’s search share exceeds Google’s."

Considering that Google's shares are going up, and Microsoft is slowly going downhill, Steve Ballmer may need to stay around for more than just 10 years, but it's not the time that really matters. He really needs to find a winning strategy for Microsoft, because things are not looking that great, as we speak...

Love him or hate him, it seems Steve Ballmer is here to stay. Maybe he really loves the company, but what would you do, if you were in his place? Just one quick overview of "my strategy as Ballmer," and I'll be off - instantly stop the silly advertising campaign for Vista, push as much money as possible into the next-gen OS, and try to listen to my customers more. I really think that offering support for Windows XP once again would benefit more than keeping to push Vista around, but that's just my opinion, so let me hear yours!