He's finally one of the Big Boys.

Steve Ballmer was promoted to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corp. today by Bill Gates. Gates has stepped down from the lead position, to take a role that is less focused on business development, and more on technology development. He has created a new job for himself called `Chief Software Architect'.

Ballmer, who will also become a member of the Microsoft Board of Directors, effective January 27, took the opportunity at the press conference to announce that he feels that it would be "reckless and irresponsible of anybody to try and break up this company ... a disservice to consumers." Which was said in reference to the recent Anti-trust and Monopoly investigations into the company by the US Department of Justice.

Basically, this means that Billy will be focusing on `technologies of the future', and Ballmer will focus on the operations of the company, and lead the fight with the DOJ.

This January is the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the Microsoft company by Gates, who cited the milestone as the reason for his stepping down. 25 years ago, Billy's job description included `CSA', but lately, however, his position as CEO had him spending more time in court battling with the Department of Justice over Anti-trust and Monopoly issues, rather than playing with technology.

Looking at the situation from this point of view, we see an extremely wealthy man, arguably the first `computer geek', who is stuck in a political, logistical, ugly (albeit powerful) job. He has returned to his roots; figuring out what the `next big thing' will be.

What do you think about Bill Gates stepping down? About Steve Ballmer's ability to lead the company? About the battles with the DOJ? Let your opinions fly on our Discussion Board.