Only an outsider CEO can help Microsoft
Microsoft's board of directors must hire a new CEO from outside the company's ranks to follow through on retiring chief executive Steve Ballmer's promise to reinvent the tech giant, analysts said.
Even then, with the challenges Microsoft faces from declining PC sales and its inability to capitalize on the massive shift to mobile computing, there's no guarantee of success. But who the board selects will really be the first and best indicator of whether the strategic shift and recent reorganization -- both aggressively promoted by Ballmer -- can remake the once-dominant technology company.
"It will be telling, who they pick, when it comes to whether the new direction works," said Michael Silver of Gartner in an interview Friday. "It really depends on who they select." Silver was referring to the mutation of Microsoft from a company that sells packaged software to one that stresses devices -- both its own as well as those built by its long-time partners like Hewlett-Packard and Dell -- and services, often software sold as a service through subscription.