You somehow think that all the bad decisions from Microsoft comes directly from Ballmer? There are plenty of people at Microsoft (still) who think like Ballmer did, and they will in the future too. The decisions that come from Microsoft comes from the entire of Microsoft, and they are all contributing to it happening too.
On point in so many ways... There is simply no way of decentralize prioritization. Thanks Almad, for sharing valuable insight/realization with the rest of us.