You can poke fun at Bill Gates all you want, but without his competitive attitude, the computer industry would not be what it is today. If Steve Jobs (Apple), and Bill Gates (Microsoft) hadn’t been such fierce competitors, the computer world would be a lot different. They pushed each other and their employee’s to come up with new inventive technologies. I might even poke fun at Bill sometimes, but the road-map that he and Steve Jobs laid can not be denounced.
Gates, 50, said Thursday he will remain the company’s chairman after
transferring his daily responsibilities over a two-year period. One of
the key people taking on Gates’ responsibilities is technology luminary
Ray Ozzie, who developed Lotus Notes and came to Microsoft when it
acquired his company, Groove Networks Inc., in 2005.The move
will end an era at Microsoft, which Gates founded in 1975 with
childhood pal Paul Allen and has been the public face of ever since.
Gates said he is stepping back so he can focus more time on his
philanthropic foundation, the world’s largest.The Redmond
company on Thursday laid out a plan for other high-ranking executives
to take on Gates’ duties. Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also
noted that recent corporate reorganizations have been designed to move
more responsibility to lower-ranking executives, so the company could
more quickly make decisions without Gates and Ballmer.But, in an interview with The Associated Press, Ballmer conceded that there was no way to replace Gates.
"If we think anybody gets to be Bill Gates, I don’t think that’s a realistic hypothesis," he said.
Gates
stressed that, although he was giving up day-to-day responsibilities
beginning in July 2008, he would still play a role at the company."I’m not leaving Microsoft," he said.
Gates also said he had no plans to give up the distinction of being the company’s largest shareholder.
"I’m proud of that," he said.
