Insiders at Microsoft are telling one tech reporter that Ford CEO Alan Mulally is now the leading candidate to replace Steve Ballmer at Microsoft.

If so, it’s notable that the powers in Redmond are looking for an executive who’s best known as a turnaround specialist: He saved Ford from the jaws of the Great Recession to make it the only American automaker that didn’t need a government bailout. Do the folks at Microsoft think the company needs a similarly drastic turnaround? Or was that already implied in the company’s shift to becoming at “device and services” company?

According to All Things D:

People with knowledge of the situation said that while the 68-year-old Mulally — who has been CEO of Ford for seven years and is a well-known business star — was not seeking the job at first, he has become more amenable to the idea in recent weeks.

For our part, we think it would be a natural fit, as Microsoft Windows is essentially the Ford Taurus of operating systems: You use it because that’s what your mom bought you.