But in the past year or so since he announced he's leaving, he's been doing less and less strategic direction. Last year at the MVP Summit, his keynote hardly touched on tech.

>Misconception. Gates doesn't run the day to day but he certainly sets the strategic direction. And Ballmer is not the "suit" you may think he is and understands a lot more technical issues than one would think. He's also motivated and smart enough to call in his experts when he's unclear on an issue.
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>To call Ballmer Larry Ellison is an insult to Ballmer, IMHO.
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>In fact, look at how many presidents MS went through. That's because of the overwhelming presence and ultimate control by Gates.
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>I can't argue with the possibility that MS may be in decline but that may be more due to changes in the enterprise models of the industry and technological evolution. Also, Vista appears to have been "rushed" and most of the really cool aspects of it were canned in deference to time.