Forum Moderators: mack
Microsoft Corp. said its founder and longtime leader Bill Gates will step down from his day-to-day duties at the software giant in July 2008 to focus full-time on his nonprofit foundation.
[prnewswire.com...]
[online.wsj.com...]
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All kidding aside, of all the things that one might do with their wealth and retirement, I've got to give him credit for what he's planning to do in retirement and how he's spending my money . . I mean his accumulated wealth.
[microsoft.com...]
Mack.
The antitrust issue is settled.
IBM is out of the PC business.
Apple is surviving via iPod.
McNealy from Sun is gone.
Oracle is pretty much beaten up.
There is no serious contender for MS office.
What else? ...
BTB, MSFT stock is already at a low point and I think reacting to this news it would take some further beating in the coming days... Considering MicroSoft's biggest revenue stream (OS & Office) is not going away anytime soon and with IE 7 its search market share is only going to go up, this is a perfect buying oppurtunity.
What else? ...
give him credit for what he's planning to do in retirement and how he's spending my money
Yep, that's a model of how a foundation should be run -- target a problem, spend money, produce results. Gates putting more of his attention into it in retirement is, and I hate to use hyperbole, really good for a lot of people over the world.
We are seeing entertainment, information and automation converging and it's all going to happen via the Internet and personal computers. Bill saw this coming and moved his company in the right direction.
Finally, his genius shines through when you think about his philanthropy - he really understands what life is all about. He truly is a man to be admired.
I honestly believe that this decision was based on that principle and that Bill is replacing himself with someone whom he firmy believes can do a better job at the architecture side of things. This is one of the most noble decisions anyone in his position could possibly make and it highlights that Bill is completely devoted to the long term integrity of the Microsoft company. There are rumors of Steve being replaced as CEO too, and much like this decision, that one would probably be the correct one if they find a better candidate. In fact, I think they might go through a spring cleaning phase, much like the White House just did, because that's what is required to survive in this market, and Bill knows that!
Many have called him by many a bad name, but there are very few others out there that are as intelligent, charitable & devoted as Bill.
Gates retiring is huge news. It will be interesting to see the how the leadership is transitioned and if the vision changes in any way.
No matter how you feel about Microsoft, Gates did something special with the company.
And he still has his own vision for the future.
Have to respect that.
But, I guess either politics or Bill just wanted to give his best man chance to run the show by himself since obviously Ballmer was so key to the success of microsoft.
Bill probably realises that his current role makes no sense. Probably just confuses people who they're supposed to be following.
Surprisingly open and candid in the interviews ive seen.
Hate Micro$oft but cant knock Bill.
Besides all this, I think his greatest achievement has been to avoid letting the money corrupt him and/or turn him into a nasty 'money is everything' kind of guy (unlike that guy from The Apprentice). The fact that he's spending his retirement trying to make life better for others is a great testament to a great man.
I also have little time for his charitable works. Don't forget that whatever he does with his millions:
i/ He is telling the world about it very publically (Take heed that ye do not your alms before men etc., the right hand does not know what the left has given. etc.).
ii/ He earnt those millions by overcharging. There's no two ways about it. Stacking up such riches, far in excess of his needs, demonstrates that he has been making money just 'because he can'. He has no need of the money, not even remotely.
iii/ His charitable giving is politically tainted and stage managed. Take a look at the list of eligible areas for grants and take note of the fact that so much of it is US only.
<edit - addition>
License purchasers the world over have paid for his millions and yet it is not targetted at people the world over.
</edit>
[edited by: vincevincevince at 9:07 am (utc) on June 16, 2006]
What a shame he doesn't spend his money on something more exciting - like a mission to the Fountains of Enceladus.
what else...
Netscape
Microsoft didn't invent the Graphical User Interface (GUI) that had been already copied by Apple from things they saw at Xerox. Microsoft did manage to achieve much wider use of GUIs than Xerox or Apple ever could.
Programs were almost completely unable to talk to each other before Windows was invented and popularized by Microsoft. It started with a simple copy/cut paste model that was implemented through the use of a concept called a clipboard. Before that it often took fancy data conversion programs to get information output by one program to be able to be used as input to another program. Inter-program communication did exist before then, but it was limited to the world of the techies, through mechanisms like Unix pipes.
Windows made computers into a tool a typical office-person could use for doing day-to-day administration without the help of a programmer and custom software. That was what the COBOL language was supposed to do, but failed at.
iii/ His charitable giving is politically tainted and stage managed. Take a look at the list of eligible areas for grants and take note of the fact that so much of it is US only.
According to their financials from last year, they gave over $800 Million dollars towards global health issues. More than half of all their contributions to every other sector combined.
[gatesfoundation.org...]
Grants Paid:
[gatesfoundation.org...]
As for overcharging, possibly, but I wonder what monetary figure we would arrive at if we took all the money and revenue generated from every single business the world over that uses Microsoft's software to run their business more efficiently?
Surely we would be talking trillions of dollars.
Is it really too much if paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to setup your enterprise lead to your company making millions?
"Oil: Exxon Chairman's $400 Million Parachute. ... Exxon. Lee Raymond's retirement package -- worth nearly $400 million -- is one of the largest in history"
If you want to say stuff about anyone, that is someone who you should bad mouth for overcharging, i dont see any billionaire in the whole world who is even as close as charitable.
