Steve Ballmer's latest bellow --- I'm not stepping down at Microsoft

Despite increasing calls for Steve Ballmer to step down as CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer this week made it very clear: He plans to be at the helm of the company for a long time. At the Seattle Rotary Club yesterday, Ballmer used his trademark bellow to let the world know he's in it for the long haul.

The latest talk about Ballmer stepping down was set off when influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn said it's time for Ballmer to go. Last month, Einhorn said at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference that Ballmer should leave Microsoft and "give someone else a chance." He added, "His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft's stock."

The chatter increased recently with an unexplained runup on Microsoft stock. Some attributed the price rise to an impending Ballmer departure. So yesterday at the Seattle Rotary Club, Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, asked Ballmer his reaction to calls for him to resign. Ballmer then bellowed, according to GeekWire,

"You tell me if I lack energy or conviction, or we're not driving all the change we need to drive."

(Check out the GeekWire report for an embedded clip of the Ballmer bellow.)

As for the importance of Windows to Microsoft, here's what Ballmer had to say:

"You cut me open and saw what was inside: Windows. Windows. Windows. Windows. Our company was born on the back of Windows. Windows underpins a huge percentage of all of our success, all of our profitability, all of the important things that we do. So, how important is it? Very, would be a very fair answer."

Ballmer certainly has a way with bluster. But the time is past when bluster works for Microsoft. Instead, what's needed is someone with a clear vision of the future, and a willingness to develop that future without depending so heavily on Windows. Based on what he had to say at the Rotary Club, it doesn't appear that Ballmer is that person.