Hasta la Vista, Bill

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jun06/06-15CorpNewsPR.mspx

"...REDMOND, Wash. — June 15, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that effective July 2008 Bill Gates, chairman, will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company announced a two-year transition process to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates' daily responsibilities, and said that after July 2008 Gates would continue to serve as the company's chairman and an advisor on key development projects...."

I've heard of peak oil; I wonder if this is peak Microsoft.

Who knows? With Bill gone, Microsoft might actually improve...but I doubt it. It's corporate culture is monolithic and totalitarian. Change? Not until it's seriously challenged and change is forced upon it.

Google did it!

Larry

ive always secretly loved him he is rather sexy with his cool hair and nifty sweaters .and his pocket protecter full a pens

Larry, I think you're right that Google has put some pressure on Microsoft - but it's just the beginning (I hope). Google is challenging Microsoft's expansion in some fields, but until some entity challenges the reality that Microsoft controls 95% of the operating systems in the world, we're in the same deep do-do we've always been in.

...and Raggie - you've made me look at Bill G. in a whole new way. And now I think I'm going to be sick.:lolsign:

lol thats what im here 4

Love or hate microsoft, the man himself gives millions to charities.

geepondy said:

Love or hate microsoft, the man himself gives millions to charities.

Click to expand...

Computer repair techs certainly have done well because of him.

ive always secretly loved him he is rather sexy with his cool hair and nifty sweaters .and his pocket protecter full a pens

Click to expand...

I'm going to pull out my brain and eat it now.

I believe I read his charity has $29.2 billion.

Love him or hate him but I think he's the reason the average computer cost $1k instead of $3k. Sure Apple would have sold more machines if not for Gates and hopefully for a lot cheaper than they have through the years but there would still be millions of less people with home machines and the internet would still be running at 33k for most people. It seems Apple can't make them as cheap. I'm not arguing better doesn't cost more money but not everyone can afford better. If Gates wouldn't have made it big people would be saying how Apple is bad with 95% of the market and they would be throwing the same rocks.

I don't care what Bill does as long as he keeps Melinda's incredibly annoying animated assistants away from the software development teams.

DieselDave, I agree with you that bigness begets envy (and rock-throwing). But I don't agree that Gates and Microsoft are responsible for cheap machines and the wonderful internet we enjoy today.

Do you remember Gates' book about the future from the mid-nineties? He barely mentioned the internet. MS has always been slow about the internet and innovation for it. And if Apple hadn't set the example for how a user interface should work, we would still be using MS-DOS. Even today, the much-touted Vista - once it is finally released - will only copy the UI that Mac users have been enjoying for years.

If Gates is a god, it is not of technology but of money. Would Apple have done better if they were the giant MS is today? Who knows...

geepondy said:

Love or hate microsoft, the man himself gives millions to charities.

Click to expand...

Year after year, when they tally up who donates what, he's always right up there being the largest donator (#1) to charities.

OT - I don't know if he's so great now, maybe, but everytime I see this mugshot of him, I can't help but to think that he's a really nice guy: Mugshot -->http://www.mugshots.org/misc/bill-gates.html

To give another perspective on Bill Gates:

I knew a casino poker room manager ten years ago who had worked at Harrahs in Reno. Apparently, Gates used to come in every now and then and play a little stud. He would regularly blow $5,000 playing $1-5 stud - and that's almost impossible, but he did it. The "regular" players would fight each other for seats. This is second-hand, but the manager always seemed to be truthful.

Bill Gates does give a lot of money - billions - to charity, and that's wonderful - and he's still the richest man in the world.

Raggie, should we make this thread a Bill Gates photo spread?



In tribute to a very wealthy man :laughing: more than that I cannot tell.

In some other parallel universe where I had more time I'd attack the supposition that Macs are more expensive (which was definitely true back in the late 90's) just because they dont make a $400 stripped down model doesn't mean that if you upgrade to a better Dell or HP machine you wont spend exactly the same amount (or even less now!) for a similarly decked out Mac. Depends on what you want to do with it doesn't it. If you just want cheap,then you can save a couple of hundred bucks. If you're buying a fancy one anyway, you shouldn't buy one that runs the same bargain basement OS as the el cheapo

I'm an old IT guy who's daily paycheck no longer rests on my having lots of windows boxes to reload, so I can tell you all the truth about it

James S said:

Raggie, should we make this thread a Bill Gates photo spread?

Click to expand...

lol! Man, did that photo make me crack up!

tvodrd said:

Google did it!

Larry

Click to expand...

It's starting to look certain that it doesn't really matter which operating system you're using if you're always on the web. Tim Berners-Lee and Google et al came out of nowhere and stole the show. Personally, I have very little inclination to 'move up' to Vista whenever it comes out. I'll stay with the machine I've got for as long as I can.

Huge problems like the major restart of Vista and the ongoing battle with the European Union overshadow the whole Microsoft empire. I hope Bill and his wife are happy giving away billions to the needy.

Sturluson,
The reason, which is sheer speculation on my part, why Gates is responsible for me being on a cable modem instead of a 33k dial up modem is not because he brought anything earthshaking to the internet. It's because Windows hype, marketing, or whatever we want to call it made the PC affordable to the average Joe. As the number of users grew exponentially with the advent of the sub $1k-$1,500 PC back in late 90's so did the market for the internet. A huge potential market is what sparked the phone and cable companies into investing large $$$ into internet infrastructure. If there had only been 2-3 computers on my street 3-4 years ago I really doubt broadband would be available on my street today. Apple's prices have come down dramatically over the last few years and are now priced for the mass market. Eventually they would have been the reason I have broadband but it would have probably been another 4-5 years.

DieselDave said:

but it would have probably been another 4-5 years.

Click to expand...

And knowing Dave's advanced age, he might not have lasted that long!

Ain't that the truth!

here's another one



MS was really a very well run company back in the day. Bill was great because he actually understood what the company and the people working under him were doing. The idea that management is separate and apart from the business of a company is a silly idea (no offense to any MBA's in the audience ) there was a time when MS had half as many layers of management as IBM and they were consequently much better able to get things done that worked.

That all changed as they grew though :touche: