Bailing on Ballmer Won't Help Bring Microsoft's Sexy Vibe Back

It wasn't that long ago that Microsoft MSFT was the standard stock to measure all tech companies against. Now, one can't help but notice that the tech giant feels a bit like a candle-maker in an electric world. For the full story, read on or watch the video here. Wall Street certainly has noticed that Microsoft is simply not innovating and not raking in profits like it used to. The stock is down 12 percent this year, a sharp loss for a company that once seemed poised to own the next century. The decline has Wall Street clamoring for Microsoft to fire CEO Steve Ballmer. Oh, my. It's not entirely clear that firing Ballmer would solve Microsoft's problem. It might be a nice PR bump for a short while, but it doesn't address the bigger issues. Specifically, Microsoft is, at best, a distant second in every forward-thinking IT area. The company has become so large that it has lost the agility and nimbleness to move from one direction to another. So, as competitors switch to newer trends (cloud computing and public services, integrated, web-based applications that can be accessed through hand-helds running lightweight operating systems) Microsoft is stuck trying to turn its behemoth before the iceberg is struck. Not all is lost for Microsoft. They have a new Windows Phone Mango program, set for a fall release, that could change the game — if the game were set in 2009, and someone spotted Microsoft a touchdown head start. This assumes they even get the product out this fall, which is no guarantee. Microsoft could do a few things, like boost the dividend and sell some parts that it no longer needs, like Bing and Kinect. They could also consider some acquisitions that make sense given the new IT era, like a mobile chip maker or a cloud computing tech company. Watch the full video of Microsoft's potential future here.