Microsoft's internal Channel 9 site has posted a video interview (WMV) with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer about today's big news. The instant analysis of non-verbal cues therein is well under way.

Meanwhile, here's a roundup of random commentary on today's developments from around the Web:

Ars Technica: "Gates leaves Microsoft in a good position. Despite the recent hits that the company's stock has taken, it still has an impressive balance sheet and the kind of market share in its core businesses that is the envy of every one of its competitors. At the same time, with its first major operating system release in over five years due at the beginning of 2007 and an ever-changing technology landscape, Microsoft faces challenges today that were barely conceivable just a few years ago. As a result, the company's growth prospects are no longer as clear cut as they once were."

David Weiss: "The question that comes to my mind is simply this: 'Will Microsoft be Microsoft without Bill Gates?' ... Bill's greatest genius has been in surrounding himself will other brilliant people, which is not a trivial task by the way. The collection of bright people at Microsoft isn't going to leave in when Bill moves from full time to part time employment in two years. I think what's less clear is how you calculate the influence of an individual at Bill's level and account for that loss."

James Bennett (who calls Gates "the greatest visionary of my generation"): "It's hard to remember the world before Gates, and it's hard to imagine Microsoft making as much impact in the future as it did in the past."

Famous and nonfamous strangers: "It is cool that he's doing it so he can spend more time on his foundation. Unless he's secretly preparing to run for President. That would be interesting."

Blogalico.us: "This announcement has to be viewed as an inflection point for the company and may be looked back on as the official shark jumping."

James Joyner at Outside the Beltway: "Garth Brooks once said of himself that he had made more money than his grandchildren could ever spend. Gates probably made Brooks' lifetime earnings last Tuesday. If anyone's in a position to spend the rest of their life doing the thing they're most passionate about, it's Gates."

Fark: "Bill Gates to step down from day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008 to spend more time overseeing the coming apocalypse."

The inevitable Slashdot thread is still ramping up but does contain a few quotable comments such as "This man has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down."

texturbation notes the interesting parallel between Gates' announcement today and Spider-Man's revealing his secret identity to the public.

Meanwhile, Business 2.0's Owen Thomas argues that Steve Ballmer should leave, too: " Since Gates stepped down as CEO in 2000 in favor of Ballmer, the company has floundered technically and strategically."

Oh, Scoble was out of town while all this was going on, if you're wondering.