Charlie Brown always believed Lucy would hold the ball while he kicked. She always snatched it away, sending him tumbling. Is this a fair metaphor for Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer? Hedge fund impresario David Einhorn thinks it is, arguing that Mr Ballmer has repeatedly fallen flat in key areas, then over-invested in an effort to catch up. Time to let someone else kick.

Certainly, Microsoft’s shares have been dull. But the charge of failing to innovate is too harsh. Microsoft was already a gigantic company when Mr Ballmer took the top job a decade ago, towering over both the operating systems and office applications markets. One company can only create, then dominate, so many segments.

Still, it is natural for a big company to want to spend its way into new markets. But Mr Einhorn is right that Microsoft has not been a very successful investor. Yes, under Mr Ballmer it built a server business that churns out $6bn in operating profits a year, a quarter of the total. Research and development expenses during his tenure, however, approach $80bn and many businesses Microsoft has pursued aggressively (notably search and mobile) are floundering. An ill-advised $47bn bid for Yahoo was prevented only by sellers’ greed. Sometimes it seems Microsoft just cannot win: when it paid out a $32bn special dividend in 2004, the stock price shrugged.