That's because Microsoft has now become IBM and what they say or plan to do is now irrelevant. He is the perfect CEO for this stage in Microsoft's journey.
This was my exact impression whenever I heard him speak at internal Microsoft meetings. He always says so much without ever actually saying anything. We would leave the meetings realizing that nothing he said had any impact on us. He's obviously an incredibly smart person, but always seemed afraid to take even a somewhat controversial opinion on anything.