Getting time with Microsoft's Jim Allchin used to be as easy as gaining an audience with the pope. But these days Microsoft's No. 3 executive is popping up all over the place--even reworking his busy schedule to sup with (gasp!) bloggers.
It's not a role that comes naturally to the normally reclusive Allchin. A brainy but reserved uber-geek, Allchin would much prefer hashing over code questions with developers than sit down with a bunch of infernally annoying reporters. But the company's future depends on his transformation into a veritable Mr. Accessible--and a persuasive Mr. Accessible, at that.
Can he do it? More than Bill Gates, more than Steve Ballmer, it's Allchin who must convince opinion makers and the all-important OEM community that Longhorn, the code name for the next major operating system from Microsoft, is worth the wait. And then the rest of us have to be convinced that Longhorn is the next must-have product in their lives.
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