time for a change at the top for Microsoft

It's time for Ballmer to hit the road. I give Microsoft a lot of heat for a variety of reasons but it's all in good fun. I worked closely with the local Microsoft team for over 3 years and still keep in touch with many members of the team both here in KC and in other parts of the country. Like millions of other people who work in technology, Microsoft technologies have played a central roll in my career. If the firm is to have any chance at staying relevant, Steve Ballmer needs to take a hike.

Mr. Ballmer laughed at the original iPhone; has allowed PC tablets to flounder for nearly 10 years - some will recall Gate's tablet announcement in 2000; he dismissed Cloud Computing for years even while Ray Ozzie implored the whole company to move forward; for nearly a decade Ballmer dismissed Google as a competitor even though Google.com was the only corporate application as ubiquitous as Office; Microsoft's mobile platforms are a complete disaster; Internet Explorer's popularity is based solely on being preloaded on machines; and now he's dismissed Android as being "weird".

Mr. Ballmer has lived in reality that is far different than the rest of us. He's protected from either hearing or listening to accurate feedback based on his extremely powerful position. He's also one of the richest people in the world with absolutely no reason to doubt himself. His vision of technology is literally blinded by a surrounding mountain of Microsoft properties. Quite literally Mr. Ballmer cannot image a world in which Microsoft is not the center - because in his world, it is.

The very foundation on which Microsoft's business model was built is rapidly disappearing. Any person who has worked with an iPhone, new Android phone or searched thousands of Gmail messages for a flight reservation knows something has changed. Mr. Ballmer refuses to acknowledge that his understanding of modern technology is outdated, his ideas regarding user experience are irrelevant, and that many people under 25 will likely never use Office. Each quarter that Microsoft avoids massive restructuring is one more quarter of denying reality. Mr. Ballmer lacks the perspective that will be needed to lead Microsoft into the next decade. He needs to get out of the way of the future of Microsoft, whatever that future may hold.