Five years of Ballmer--the effect on Microsoft
C|Net | at | by Mike
In the five years since Bill Gates surprised the technology world by announcing he would give up his title as chief executive at Microsoft, has the company changed? Yes--and no. While CEO Steve Ballmer has clearly retooled some parts of Microsoft to more closely mesh with his hard-driving style, the world's largest software maker still faces many of the same challenges: Open source, legal skirmishes, and slowing growth in some of its core businesses.
The eventual shift of power to longtime friend and colleague Ballmer was expected, but the announcement itself, five years ago today, on Jan. 13, 2000, was something of a shock.