Just yesterday, Friday the 27th of June, Bill Gates announced his leave from Microsoft Corp in what must have been the largest display of emotion this generation of programmers will ever display.

bill gates

The role of Chief Executive falls into the hands of Steve Ballmer, an old friend and Harvard classmate of Gates. As Microsoft is challenged today by increasingly powerful companies and organisations such as Google, Facebook and long-time competitor Apple, the responsibilites given up to this new CEO continue to gain weight. Luckily, Bill will still be working part-time with Microsoft as well as remaining it’s non-executive chairman, although most of his efforts will be concentrated on his charity organisation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This could mean a lot of things for Microsoft. Like any team, getting a new captain can help re-arrange priorities within the still-influential software giant, focusing more energy on what’s important: market demand and innovation. Of course, innovation has never been Microsoft’s strong point: they have a history of simply buying out companies “left and right,” stated Andrew Loechl of Eagle Harbor Asset Management, an influential investment advisor. “Microsoft just hasn’t come up with anything all that innovative.”

As for Bill, personally I think he’ll be fine. According to Forbes magazine, his fortune still figures at around $58 billion, making him the third richest man alive. A lot of us working gents were starting to wonder why he still had a job in the first place.

-45 ACP

Sources: Reuters.com, News.com.au

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Business, Real World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.