I doubt this will mean more or less with respect to accessibility but it
would be interesting to know this new President's philosophy and direct
experience with disability.

>Posted at 6:19 p.m. PDT Tuesday, July 21, 1998
>------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Bill Gates' Best Friend, Steve Ballmer, Named President of Microsoft
>
>
>By Jay Greene and Polly Lane, The Seattle Times
>Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
>
>Jul. 21--Bill Gates named his best friend Steve Ballmer president of
>Microsoft today, so Gates could get back to developing software.
>
>Gates will remain chairman and chief executive officer, but will formally
>give Ballmer, 42, day-to-day management responsibilities for the software
>giant, a job he has been doing for some time.
>
>"If you asked who would run this company, if not Bill Gates, I think the
>answer most people would give you is Steve Ballmer," said Thomas Hensel, an
>Everen Securities analyst.
>
>The move also makes Ballmer, formerly executive vice president of sales and
>support, the point man on Microsoft's most public fronts, such as its
>antitrust battle with the U.S. Justice Department. He will also handle more
>of the corporate day-to-day operations.
>
>Gates said today that he has always intended to spend most of his time on
>product development. He looked at his calendar for the recently ended
>fiscal year and realized that his development work fell below that
>threshhold.
>
>"I really want to get in there and work with the developers," Gates said in
>a telephone conference call. "This is the part of the job that is most
>fulfilling for me."
>
>Microsoft has been without a president since the resignation of Michael
>Hallman in 1992. Since his departure, those duties have been performed by
>an executive committee.
>
>Ballmer's new title formally recognizes the role he has played at Microsoft
>for some time.
>
>"It officially puts into place Steve Ballmer's role as the person running
>the day-to-day operations of the company," said Sanjiv Hingorani, an
>analyst with ING Baring Furman Selz in New York. "I see it pretty much as a
>natural evolution."
>
>Robert Herbold, executive vice president, will continue as chief operating
>officer but will report to Ballmer instead of Gates.
>
>Three other key Microsoft executives will report to Ballmer as well: Frank
>"Pete" Higgings, group vice president of interactive media; Paul Maritz,
>group vice president of platforms and applications; and William Neukom,
>senior vice president of law and corporate affairs.
>
>The only executives now reporting to Gates are Ballmer and chief technology
>officer Nathan Myhrvold.
>
>Microsoft also announced that Ballmer's lieutenant Jeff Raikes will take on
>new responsibilities as group vice president of sales and support. Raikes,
>formerly vice president of sales and marketing, will oversee the company's
>new product support services organization.
>
>Ballmer has long been eyed as Gates' successor. Their friendship dates to
>1974, when they were Harvard classmates. Gates has described Ballmer as his
>best friend.
>
>That longtime relationship has helped to make Ballmer one of a handful of
>billionaires in the Puget Sound region.
>
>Just as Gates is best known as the visionary responsible for many of
>Microsoft's key innovations, Ballmer is known as the guy who implements
>those ideas. Passionate about Microsoft and its products, Ballmer's
>personality is at the core of Microsoft's competitiveness.
>
>In the 1980s, he played hardball with IBM in early fights over computer
>operating systems that Microsoft won. Today, he is the key strategist in
>the battle with Netscape over Internet browsers.
>
>The Ballmer-Gates association first clicked when the two math fanatics met
>at Harvard in Gates' sophomore year. Equally enthusiastic about sports,
>Ballmer was student manager of Harvard's football team. He was a big man on
>campus, in contrast to the less social Gates.
>
>Sometimes he gets carried away. That's what happened, he says, when he
>blasted Attorney General Janet Reno in a speech days after the Justice
>Department's antitrust filing.
>
>If bundling Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer, with Windows 95 was
>good for customers, he said, that was reason enough to do it. When the
>audience of business software vendors roared with approval, Ballmer said,
>"Then I say the heck with Janet Reno on this point."
>
>Ballmer acknowledges he may have overstepped in his comment.
>
>"It was not as bad in context, and I really meant no disrespect," he said.
>"But I regret the utterance."
>
>His choice as point man for the antitrust investigations strikes many in
>Washington as interesting given his reputation for bulldog business
>tactics. Ballmer frequently has been quoted in documents included in the
>Justice Department's antitrust investigation.
>
>Few believe Gates will fully remove himself from key decisions regarding
>the antitrust case.
>
>Seattle Times staff reporters Paul Andrews and James V. Grimaldi
>contributed to this report.




VICUG-L ARCHIVES     http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html