I like Steve Ballmer. In fact, I struggle to understand how you can’t.

There’s something unscripted about him that’s uniquely entertaining. Watching him answer a question from the public is like watching a HGV driver trying to reverse out of a cul-de-sac. It’s a twenty minute event, filled with aborted attempts, sudden U-turns and near misses. Nineteen minutes of utter, exasperating futility followed by one minute of triumph when he eventually stumbles upon the way out. And here’s the thing – the more of it I watch, the more I find myself rooting for him. It’s endearing, and all the more so after being subjected to a number of smooth talking PR gurus who’ve perfected the art of speaking without saying anything at all.

It also helps, that he’s clearly bonkers. Witness him bouncing around the stage like a sentient space hopper and you’ll see what I mean. Yes, it’s cringeworthy, no I don’t know why he did it, but in a world where every speech from every company head is as smooth as Ballmer’s well-polished head – this is the sort of unscheduled lunacy that I stand up and applaud.

And it’s worth looking at his Microsoft, which in its infant years is already exhibiting the same mixture of surprise, lunacy and drive as the man himself, consisting, as it does, of a promise to open up, an offer for Yahoo, and a new operating system which may just do the unthinkable and actually make it out on time.

Love Microsoft, or hate it, it’s no longer dull. And how many companies, or their chief execs, can you say that about?