Mr. Surround-Sound

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Ballmer is Microsoft's first president in more than six years. In 1992 Gates dismissed Michael Hallman, abolished the position of president and restructured Microsoft, creating a brain trust made up of his top lieutenants. Now executives including COO Bob Herbold and chief counsel William H. Neukom--but excluding Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's technical futurist--will report to Ballmer. This power shift undoubtedly bruised egos in Redmond, but Ballmer puts a positive spin on it: "It frees up Bill from dealing with some business issues, and it means that [top execs] have another partner, me, helping them think through issues."

Ballmer started at Microsoft in 1980, when Gates lured him from Stanford's M.B.A. program with the promise of a $50,000 salary--more than Gates was paying himself at the time--and the possibility of a 10% stake in Microsoft. (Ballmer now owns about 5%.) He was the one who first got things under control at the 30-person software start-up, where accounting was still done in a paper ledger. According to legend, within three weeks of his arrival, Ballmer pushed Gates to near hair-pulling by telling him he had to hire an additional 50 people. Gates accused Ballmer of trying to ruin his company. Within a day, he changed his mind and gave Ballmer the green light. Since then, things have worked out rather nicely.

Ballmer says he'd like to operate at a lower volume in his new job, even if the speed is the same. "I can be a little bullheaded," he says, as if that were a big secret. "I'd like to learn to be a better coach, not just the bullheaded leader of the people."