Ballmer becomes lone voice at Microsoft's helm

Ballmer becomes lone voice at Microsoft's helm

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates (R) and CEO Steve Ballmer face employees during a farewell event celebrating Gates' years at Microsoft, on his last day as a full-time employee at the company headquarters in Redmond, Washington June 27, 2008. Steve Ballmer will finally get to move into the corner office vacated by Bill Gates, the college friend who brought him to the company nearly three decades ago.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Steve Ballmer has been CEO at Microsoft Corp for eight years, but he will finally get to move into the corner office vacated by Bill Gates, the college friend who brought him to the company nearly three decades ago.

The pressure of leading the world's largest software maker will only escalate in the wake of a bungled attempt to acquire Yahoo Inc, a move that forced the Web pioneer into the waiting arms of Microsoft's archrival, Google Inc.

Adding fuel to the fire has been a lukewarm reception by customers for the company's flagship product, Windows Vista.

"The pressure is certainly on," said Alan Davis, analyst at investment firm D.A. Davidson.

For the first time in his career, the 52-year-old Ballmer, whose public histrionics often overshadow a sharp intellect and a gift for numbers, must shoulder the weight of Microsoft's future without Gates, who stepped down on Friday from the company he co-founded to focus on philanthropy.

Their partnership was forged at Harvard University, where the pair formed an unlikely friendship: Gates, the middle child of a prominent Seattle family, and Ballmer, a Detroit native whose parents never went to college.

They both lived in a dormitory full of "anti-social math types," according to Gates. Ballmer, outgoing and involved in many social clubs on campus, seemed to be a study in contrast to the aloof Gates, who preferred all-night programming sessions and poker games.

SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com