I had a couple of other posts ready to go when the news broke, and instantly took precedence over every other tech-related news story of the year so far. Microsoft has officially named Satya Nadella the new CEO of Microsoft, replacing Steve Ballmer who announced he was leaving the position last year. You can read Satya Nadella’s email to employees here, and Steve Ballmer’s email to employees here. Microsoft also moved board member and search chair John Thompson to the position of chairman.

Let me say right off the bat I am cautiously optimistic. An electrical engineer, he has been at the company a long time, 22 years to be exact, and has overseen Microsoft’s attempts to compete at the consumer level including the acquisition and continued development of Skype, as well as the development of Bing, and Microsoft’s cloud services, all of which I’m a big fan of. He also has significant experience in the enterprise sector of the company which is what drives almost two-thirds of Microsoft’s revenue. He is well liked and respected within the company and the industry and has the support of many people both inside and outside Microsoft.

From Microsoft’s Facebook page, a historic day at the company. From left to right: Chairman John W. Thompson, CEO Satya Nadella, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer

On the other hand, some of those very same issues are what prevent me from being too overly-enthusiastic. Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, as well as Google as a corporate entity, were and are well known for being very, very cutthroat when needed. This isn’t an industry where being a nice, amiable person will get your company very far. He has already been pegged as a ‘safe’ choice for Microsoft, and that could be a good thing, or it could turn out to be exactly what the company doesn’t need right now as it continues to struggle in the consumer devices and software sector.

He has said that it is important to bring new and innovative products and ideas to the market at a much faster pace and that is what we need to hear; in fact he states that the tech industry “does not respect tradition, it only respects innovation.” Whether he is actually able to follow through with that is something that only time will tell. If he can, that will be good for the company. If not, if his influence and vision meets any roadblocks, that could further hinder the company just as it seem to be getting its products and services in line.

The reason I mention that is because none other than Bill Gates himself is increasing his role in the company after having been away for quite some time, and Steve Ballmer will still have significant presence. How that will impact the new CEO’s ability to actually do his job in the way he sees fit is unclear, but their influence will undoubtedly be hanging thick in the air. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, by the way, they built Microsoft into what it is, but it is something that might need to be kept in check, or may very well need to be embraced. A much more serious concern is the under-the-radar news that Mason Morfit, Head of ValuAct Holdings, will be coming on as a member of the board of Microsoft and wants to seriously shake things up, including the selling off of Microsoft’s hardware such as the Xbox and untying the software from the hardware. That makes me very, very worried.

Even so, I have high hopes. For all the grief it gets, Microsoft is a good, strong company. Their products are well designed, and although they’ve certainly had missteps, *no* company is innocent of that (Remember the Pippin? Or Newton? or Buzz?). I think this refresh of the executive ranks is needed, as long as the new CEO is able to lead and steer the company forward.