Microsoft has missed too many opportunities under Steve Ballmer’s stewardship. It’s a fair criticism reignited last week by the hedge fund boss, David Einhorn, who called for the software giant’s chief executive to step down. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Mr. Ballmer will go. Based on total return to shareholders, other long-time company bosses, including Jeff Immelt at General Electric, have fared worse.

Mr. Ballmer started as chief executive in January 2000. Over the last decade, Microsoft’s shares have tumbled 30 percent, and they’re up only a hair from their low in 2006. The potted narrative is that Mr. Ballmer has shepherded the “old” operating system and productivity software powerhouse reasonably well but misjudged new developments, wasting billions of dollars chasing Silicon Valley innovators like Apple and Google.

It would be a lot to expect a single company to dominate more than one truly world-changing technology. But with that caveat, the critique of Mr. Ballmer is on target even if he’s far from the only chief executive who has struggled to make the most of a franchise. And he at least saw the need to pay dividends a few years earlier than, say, John Chambers at Cisco Systems.

On a total return basis including those payouts, Microsoft shareholders are down just over 10 percent over 10 years, and better off by some 14 percent over five, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream. That’s far from gratifying, but easily beats Cisco. Looking further across corporate America, Mr. Ballmer stomps Mr. Immelt’s decade-long reign at G.E. and outdoes Rupert Murdoch’s latest five-year stretch at the News Corporation. Richard Fairbank at Capital One Financial and Steven Burd at the grocery chain Safeway, two other corner-office fixtures, also have fallen short of Mr. Ballmer’s performance.