Bill won't come back. Look at his recent TED talks and it's clear he's commited to his philanthropy. The problems with Microsoft won't be fixed over night. I hate to bring out a sports comparison, but it works here. How many times has a team on the decline brought in a new coach, only to see him fail too or only make small steps forward?

Outsiders have traditionally had a hard time making it in the Microsoft hierarchy, which is why an outside guy won't work. My guess is the board is looking around and doesn't see anyone inside that they feel can do a better job than Ballmer.

Jay Allard is an interesting choice. I'll thow out Steve Sinofsky. He put Office where it is and turned around Windows after Vista. I've heard others say ScottGu, but I don't think he's the guy...yet.

Joel Spolsky once said that if you have a software company and the guy at the top is not a software guy, that you're doomed. (I'm paraphrasing). Ballmer is not a software guy. He's a sales guy. And it shows. (BTW, Sinofsky is a software guy)

Microsoft has more problems than just Ballmer. Here is one example
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/can-an-open-source-backer-thrive-inside-microsoft-this-one-says-no/9545

But this problem is indictative of not having a software guy at the top.

Oh.. and I REALLY like the ribbon. It's made my use of PowerPoint and Word much better. I say, keep it. (which they will for now. The menu code was actually removed from the product)

>Interesting article:
>
>http://gdgt.com/discuss/it-s-time-for-bill-gates-to-come-back-to-microsoft-dqz/