Wants to be famous like Bono so he can point and look cool
BetaNews | Bill Gates to Leave Microsoft in 2 Years — I’ve been doing radio interviews about this and everyone seems to wonder what it will do for the stock. Not much one way or the other. That said, here’s an analysis I did for PC Magzine.
Microsoft chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates announced in a press conference Thursday afternoon that he would be shifting priorities, leaving his full-time position at Microsoft in two years to focus his efforts on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie will take over Gates’ role as Chief Software Architect starting immediately. “Over the next two years, Ray and I will work side by side to ensure a smooth transition,” Gates said. “Over time, he’ll take on the central role for architectual leadership at Microsoft.’
Gates reitered that he is not retiring from the software business, calling the change a re-ordering of priorities. “With greath wealth comes great responsibility,” he said. A responsibility to give back to society.”
related link:
Official Microsoft Announcment
More Vista delays are coming. He’s ducking out.
MS has a lot of work to do, they’ve got so many problems buried in their lame software. Maybe this change will help get the cleanup started.
I’m not sure Gates is the problem at MS. I do think he might believe the company had peaked, and there’s no fun being on the down hill side. The fun part is in the building, maintenance is a chore.
Cash out now Bill and invest your money in something that doesn’t suck.
I honestly think Gates has learned how much fun charity really is. That would be the greatest part of accumulating enormous wealth — the opportunity to give it away as you see fit. When politicians harness the power of government for social programs, there’s a lot of time spent building consensus and making compromises. Philanthropists like Gates get to sidestep that, expressing their own ideas of how to make the biggest improvement. Cool.
Big difference between Bill and Bono is that Bill gives away his own money, Bono wants governments to use their power of taxation to give away other people’s money.
Well, Bill always said he’d quit Microsoft when it stopped being fun. It can’t be the fun it used to be during the Win95 heydays. And how much has Bill done as “CSA”; what new stuff has MS released that Bill had put his signature on? There has to be talent within the lower levels of MS that are ready to change the company’s direction and do things either differently or better. Overall this is probably a good thing for the company; “Chairman Emeritus Bill”.
So, will the company “get serious,ala IBM? Creative ala Apple? Boring ala Oracle or Sun? We should know by 2008.
So, Vista will be his swan song? He should have stepped down when he was at the top. Now he has the Vista albatross around his neck.
Maybe Vista is more like his albatross song.
Either way, maybe this is exactly what M$ needs… a real shackup for management of the whole company.
Indeed, Bill. Thanks for looking after Africa and the stuff with schools and so on. It was fun.
And please. I don’t wanna hear that you’re introducing a unix box a few years out. Enjoy your retirement.
I think Bill is leaving before it becomes apparent to Wall Street Analysts that Microsoft is as outdated and out of sync with the masses as AT&T was back in the 1980’s. Yea, they did come back and have some pretty good hits with thier “Universal Bank” and Wireless divisions, but in the long run, they got broke up and split up like all the other great companies in American history.
So, this is the point in which Microsoft will officially begin their downhill slide and be broken up into a bunch of smaller companies focusing on game consoles, peripherals, databases, productivity tools, and (oh!) operating systems.
“Bono wants governments to use their power of taxation to give away other people’s money.”
Compared to Gates, Bono doesn’t have any money to give!
Bill, … You are getting your butt whipped. … Only a matter of time the software business is down. … Who are you going to blame it on Steve or Ray Ozzie!? …
The man has decided to commit his time (and treasure) to foundation work, full time. His assets: A $30 billion foundation, and another $50 billion dollars to boot. So endowed, who WOULDN’T commit themselves to redistributing their substantial wealth to positive effect?
I suspect that the average contributor here could care less. In fact, I’d wager that this is just another forum in which to indulge personal animus.
If I’m right, all I can say is: good luck with that. The man whose intentions you malign will be busy helping others, globally. Meanwhile, you’ll have your feckless grievances that will be forgotten before I even finish my post.
Sad. Petty. Pathetic.
I truely admire what Gates has been doing with his money. His giving for honest to God real programs to help people all over the world dwarfs what anyone is or has ever done.
There are no vanity basketball teams, or football teams, no super-mega yachts, and considering his wealth, not a whole lot of the luxury he could have(though the house is damn awesome).
He gets a lot of flake from so many people for what Microsoft has become, but lets face it, he was smart enough to take what he knew, and instead of creating a playground for geeks, turned it into a real business. Microsoft is probably the top reason the internet finally took off. For all it’s problems, the software made getting on the net easy for millions and millions of people that might never have got on the net.
I would imagine the fun has gone. What with all the law suits(right or wrong) and the problems with the E.U. and software troubles, he probably just said…hell…I’ll take my 60 billion and the stock and go play where it’s more satisfactory.
Look at the abuse he gets in just this blog so often(deserved or not), we have really become not only a society of instant gratification, but one of *constant* gratification as well……the old saying that it dosen’t matter what you did before, but what have you done for me lately……is true in this case. This guy, and his focus on his business made thousand upon thousands of people multi-millionaires almost over night and changed the way we live today maybe more than any other person in 200 years.
Nice to see another instance where Joshua and I agree. Cripes — why John and I agree. This isn’t a Left and Right question.
What could possibly be wrong with a wealthy individual taking the bucks they’ve earned and walking away from that wonderful arena called the marketplace to focus on helping other folks — especially when those folks had the bad fortune to be born poor and non-white into a global society that gives you 2 strikes, right off?
I’ve spent time in my life praising Bill Gates. I’ve spent time criticizing him. But, never for his dedication to good causes. He’s not just taking his tax deduction and using it for PR. He’s taking his own time and creative abilities and making this his primary task.
Right on.
i think bill will blossom as a philanthropist — his business accumen, when brought to bear on the bloated inefficiencies of the world’s charity networks will be a breath of fresh air.
he might just actually make the world a better place.
As for Bill’s philanthropy, it appears he has entered the phase of his life where he needs to re-habilitate his record to assure that history looks back on him in a positive way. The same thing happened with the Robber Barons. They need to use their ill-gotten spoils to buy their way into heaven.
After decades of plundering the public, crushing the competition with monopolistic business practices, releasing shoddy and overpriced products to a captive populace, and stifling myriads of innovations, Gates is now a saint for giving away 1/50th of his amassed fortune? What a guy!
If Gates wanted to be really philanthropic, he should give refunds to the millions of people that have been plagued with BSOD’s, lost data, lost productivity, viruses, worms, key loggers, and root kits over the last twenty years.
I will give Bill some slack if his foundation cures cancer or something but not for giving M$ computers to third world country libraries. That just furthers his business interests and is purely a “foot-in-the-door” business model.
Sorry. I will get off my soap box now.
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Gates didn’t do much of anything for charity until Melinda entered the scene. IMO she is the driving force behind this foundation and she deserves far more credit than these fanboys are giving her.
Bill Gates doesn’t love (phil) people (anthropy) – he loves property and profits. Now he can do the Royal thing and “cure” people by the laying on of hands (his dollars). But people already know what will cure them (clean water, good housing, good health and education) and need to lay their hands on his and the rich countries’ extorted dollars to get it. Plus dump the politicians, corporations and military who prevent them doing this. The ragged folks all over the world on starvation wages or none at all are the true philanthropists, keeping Bill and his kind rich and shiny. There’s a novel called The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell about this. In print. Fun to read!
Opinions can’t change what a man can do.
I think i admire Bill Gates , he has the courage all of us in this blog will never have till we die.
The best way to challenge a man is to do better. If you think you can do better why not do it and stop talking.
i think he’ll make the best philantropist the world has ever known and (may be ever know.)
IF IS GOING TO BE THE WORLD’S BEST AT GIVING AWAY MONEY, I NEED MONEY NOW. HE MAY CONTACT ME AT GARY BRYANT, 210 SFC 420, FORREST CITY, ARKANSAS 72335. I NEED MONEY NOW FOR REAL THINGS LIKE FOOD AND GAS AND TO MAKE MY HOUSE PAYMENT. WHAT ABOUT IT MR. GATES? I WILL WORK FOR FOOD AND MONEY.
Good day Mr. Gates, Im a mother of 5 children with low income from the Philippines. I would like to ask you to sponsor to my youngest daughter to her
education.Plese Mr. Gates share your blessing! Thank You.
well bill gates i also wanna be a rich man like you,i would say even more than you and so I will.