I admit to not liking Ballmer from what I've seen, but how much can one person really control a company? Would Ballmer walking out tomorrow really change enough? If products really are uninspiring enough to employees, etc. then that has to be the fault of a more general group of people: at least spanning several executives, managers of product teams, and the behavior of many employees. To some extent many of Microsoft's senior employees are now reaping what they have sown in recent years. Ballmer will surely be blamed, and isn't blameless, but a lot more would have to change to make a difference.