Bill Gates Will Retire. One Day. Kinda.
All the news going on in the blogosphere (if you live and breath code that is ) is about Bill Gates saying he is going to step down. As an ex-microsoftie (yeah, my stay there was small, but allow me to rub it in ;-) ) I would say that now Microsoft would not be the same anymore. Its going to be now run by his 2nd in command Steve Balmer. However Balmer is just not as charismatic as Bill. In fact, not many people (lets not talk CEOs here) even knew about SB.
Under Bill Gates, the corporation has become the biggest company as far as revenues go, earning a lot of money, and a lot of fear and hate also. The ethics of Bill were always suspect, and the anti-trust litigations in the recent past proved to many what others had just suspected. Add to it the delays in coming out with Vista , and many were wondering about whether the leadership at the top is ok or not ?
For BillG, I think its the right decision. For the last few years he was more concerned about his donations ( and it looks like it will buy his way into the record books) for AIDS and Malaria etc, than about the running of Microsoft. This move means that he will not have to carry on the sham of being in charge of Microsoft - for better or for worse.
The people stepping into his shoes - namely Steve and Ray Ozzie, dont have an enviable task - but they probably have the best resources around on the planet to use. They have to get out Vista and make more money ( yeah - money is never enough), and contend with the likes of Google and Apple, who seem to be nipping at their heels.
If Microsoft crashes, it would be a collosal crash. I somehow doubt it will happen. But I also doubt if Microsoft will be the same. Everything needs the enigma of an Icon leading. In the companies its mostly run by the individuals and when they leave, the company does not do so well. In the east, it runs into families ( like the gandhi family ) and it keeps the public interested.
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