As I mentioned elsewhere, I would love to see a charasmatic product guy like Scott Guthrie at the helm.
But, Ballmer had nearly 20 years experience running teams in a large and successful technology company before he was became CEO.
Furthermore, the dude has a mathematics degree (with honors) from Harvard. That means that he probably earned an 'A' in Math 55, the hardest undergraduate course at Harvard[1], which implies that he would have no trouble keeping up with most of the theoretical computer science stuff.
I am almost certain that Ballmer did not take Math 55, though Bill Gates did (and supposedly got a ‘B’). Do you have a source citation for that? You don’t have to take Math 55 (a freshman course with 10–20 students per year) to graduate with high honors in Math/Economics. (Which isn’t to say that Ballmer is a slouch: he is clearly very sharp, and was even as an undergraduate.)
Theoretical computer science stuff has little overlap with shipping a quality product and a great customer experience. Microsofts success has always been a combination of "good enough" and cunning yet cut throat business practice.
In the age of the web though, the market will now continue to out step Ballmer and whatever Harvard theoretical math he could throw at his developers developers developers developers.
But, Ballmer had nearly 20 years experience running teams in a large and successful technology company before he was became CEO.
Furthermore, the dude has a mathematics degree (with honors) from Harvard. That means that he probably earned an 'A' in Math 55, the hardest undergraduate course at Harvard[1], which implies that he would have no trouble keeping up with most of the theoretical computer science stuff.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55