So, old Steve ‘Baldy’ Ballmer is making some changes at the top; or at least according to some “people in the know” that is the case says Bloomberg Businessweek.

This of course has Microsoft watchers out in full force wondering what, if anything, is going to be going on in the gilded halls of Redmond. Now the word is that we will find out sometime this month with no definite date being announced for the shake up. However, given the fact that the Mobile World Congress is happening next week I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we don’t hear something before then, possibly late Friday afternoon.

As to who will be moving to what corner office that is all up for grabs but smart folks like Mary Jo Foley are agreeing that we may see many of the newly promoted people coming from the engineering ranks of the company. This thinking is based on a quote from the Businessweek post (emphasis is mine) :

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer plans to extend a management reshuffling aimed at adding senior product executives with an engineering background, two people with knowledge of the decision said.

Now given everything that Ballmer has been saying lately about the next version of Windows being the company’s riskiest bet yet, and the fact that the company has so much riding on things like Windows Phone 7, Xbox and Kinect, and of course the move to supporting the ARM architecture, I’m wondering if we won’t see some real surprises when the shuffle is announced.

Then there is the fact that Ballmer’s tenure as CEO could be on the line over the next year and any misstep could see him leaving the company. I don’t know what kind of shake up is coming but it will be interesting and may very well signal the company’s direction going forward so maybe this would be a good time to really shake things up.

You thoughts?

[Editor’s Note: Cross-posted on WinExtra. –mrh]