The man who has come to define the PC
revolution has decided to walk away — very slowly — from his creation.
Microsoft Chairman William H. Gates III said June 15 that he will give
up his day-to-day role at the company in two years to focus on giving
his vast riches away through the $29 billion Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
“Just
as Microsoft took off in ways I never expected, so has the work of the
Foundation, and it's growing rapidly,” Gates, 50, said in a press
conference announcing the news. “With the early successes comes the
challenge of scaling up and delivering these new approaches to everyone
who can benefit.” Gates says he plans to remain Microsoft's chairman
indefinitely.
This
move is just the latest step in what will end up being a multiyear and
multistage period of disengagement. Gates gave up the chief executive
job to his longtime friend and partner-in-arms Steve Ballmer six years
ago. He seems determined not to upset investors and employees with too
sudden a departure from a company so closely identified with him. At
the same time, Gates says it's important for folks to get “beyond the
myth of one person doing a high percentage of things.”
Room for fresh ideas
Indeed,
most analysts don't see the move as disruptive. If anything, it's a
positive for the company, creating the possibility of fresh thinking in
an organization seen by many in the tech industry as being hung up on
the past. Gates, more than anyone else, ushered in the era of the PC
and the software that went with it. With Microsoft's Windows and Office
monopolies, the company became the dominant tech company in the latter
part of the 20th century.
But
in the last few years, it has become clear that the technology industry
is entering a new epoch. The Internet is becoming the focal point — and
Microsoft, with its dependence on packaged software, finds itself
chasing upstarts such as Google in search, Apple in digital music, and
salesforce.com in online business applications.
As
much as Gates is identified with the PC era, he's also a lightning rod
for many of Microsoft's recent problems. Case in point: The next
version of its operating system software, Windows Vista, will arrive
for most users next year, more than five years after the previous
version of Windows was launched.
