The one that should go is Balmer. Big news. I'm not surprised, I started a thread about MS restructuring earlier. Maybe now it will happen. Some speculated that Gates was the opposition to such a move.
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced a two-year transition process that will ultimately end with the departure of chairman Bill Gates, who founded the company along with Paul Allen back in 1975.
The world's largest software maker said that effective July 2008, Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company in order to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates will continue to serve as the company's chairman and as an advisor on key projects following his departure.
Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately assume the title of chief software architect and begin working side by side with Gates, the company said in a statement. Similarly, Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer and also work closely with Gates.
This was a hard decision for me," Gates said. "I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever."
In September 2005 Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer organized the company into three divisions under presidents Jim Allchin, Kevin Johnson, Robbie Bach and Jeff Raikes, who were given much greater responsibility for product development and strategy decisions within their respective businesses. In August 2005 the company appointed Kevin Turner as chief operating officer.
"Bill and I are confident we've got a great team that can step up to fill his shoes and drive Microsoft innovation forward without missing a beat," Ballmer said. "We will continue to hire the world's best technical talent and give them the tools to do their best work, and we will continue to tackle the biggest challenges and opportunities for our customers by investing for the long term."
Ballmer and Gates noted that Microsoft has been steadily expanding its senior leadership in recent years, and that today's announcement continues a transition process that has been underway for several years. In January 2000, Gates assumed the role of chief software architect and Ballmer assumed the role of CEO, responsible for all day-to-day operations and company business strategy.
Maybe this will get MS back on track. There are so many things wrong with their products it's hard to know where to start. They've gotten fat and lazy.
They should have started fresh at some point, and cut off compatibilty with their oldest products. There is so much junk buried in a Windows OS install, there's probably hardly anyone at MS who knows how half the stuff works.
Gates lives in a dream land, he overestimated the acceptance of cutting edge technology. Everybody uses Windows, but most users don't understand how to exploit the most basic aspects of the interface. They guess their way through it every day at work, then come home and get frustrated because they can't manage their digital photographs.
The average user can't arrange two windows beside each other and copy a file from one folder to the other. It's a big frustrating guessing game for most, and MS has done nothing to educate them.
This is surprising as hell to me but makes a lot of sense.
He should step down now to watch how people in his company do instead of being forced to step down eventually due to health or old age or something, where he'll have no control over what happens then.
That way he can guide the company into not really needing him instead of just leaving them all on their own one day.
I don't really like the guy but that's pretty smart.
Although Microsoft as a company is not something I admire for its products and Bill Gates is not a charismatic or innovative person; Microsoft managed to get a computer into every household and office and is the global leader. Not only is this worth admiration but Bill Gates is being extremely altruistic - donating a lot of time and money to charities for no personal gain. The same cannot be said of Jobs. I expect that I will always dislike MS products and persuade switchers but I think it's worth remembering MS have done a lot of good, saving Apple financially in the 90s, and Gates is worth celebrating.
hey bill is a good guy in some aspects. with all his money he could just kick his feet up and be a lazy fat ass. what is he doing? he's going to save people lives, give others hope.
not a bad guy if you ask me. he knows what he's done, he knows he got lucky, and now he's doing what he can for those dealt with not so fortunate circumstances.
Comments
Originally posted by blackbird_1.0
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/15/gat...cnn_topstories
Oh, well. Probably not something eath-shattering.
MS is a big barge, and it's going to take a long time to change direction.
The world's largest software maker said that effective July 2008, Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company in order to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates will continue to serve as the company's chairman and as an advisor on key projects following his departure.
Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately assume the title of chief software architect and begin working side by side with Gates, the company said in a statement. Similarly, Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer and also work closely with Gates.
This was a hard decision for me," Gates said. "I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever."
In September 2005 Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer organized the company into three divisions under presidents Jim Allchin, Kevin Johnson, Robbie Bach and Jeff Raikes, who were given much greater responsibility for product development and strategy decisions within their respective businesses. In August 2005 the company appointed Kevin Turner as chief operating officer.
"Bill and I are confident we've got a great team that can step up to fill his shoes and drive Microsoft innovation forward without missing a beat," Ballmer said. "We will continue to hire the world's best technical talent and give them the tools to do their best work, and we will continue to tackle the biggest challenges and opportunities for our customers by investing for the long term."
Ballmer and Gates noted that Microsoft has been steadily expanding its senior leadership in recent years, and that today's announcement continues a transition process that has been underway for several years. In January 2000, Gates assumed the role of chief software architect and Ballmer assumed the role of CEO, responsible for all day-to-day operations and company business strategy.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
They should have started fresh at some point, and cut off compatibilty with their oldest products. There is so much junk buried in a Windows OS install, there's probably hardly anyone at MS who knows how half the stuff works.
Gates lives in a dream land, he overestimated the acceptance of cutting edge technology. Everybody uses Windows, but most users don't understand how to exploit the most basic aspects of the interface. They guess their way through it every day at work, then come home and get frustrated because they can't manage their digital photographs.
The average user can't arrange two windows beside each other and copy a file from one folder to the other. It's a big frustrating guessing game for most, and MS has done nothing to educate them.
Originally posted by Ireland
What i'd like to know is why is that prick on this site?
Because.... uh.... major news at MS might affect Mac OSX
Originally posted by DeaPeaJay
Because.... uh.... major news at MS might affect Mac OSX
Get out the wine this is cause for celerbration or should I wait til' July 2008. hehe (j/k)
He should step down now to watch how people in his company do instead of being forced to step down eventually due to health or old age or something, where he'll have no control over what happens then.
That way he can guide the company into not really needing him instead of just leaving them all on their own one day.
I don't really like the guy but that's pretty smart.
Originally posted by bcharna
yayyyyyyyyyyy
no more geeky Bill Gates
Microshit is going down
YEAH YOU TELL 'EM
Bill Gates will finally leave Microsoft in 16 years. Just about the time Vista ships.
Oh, and um... Microsoft is doomed!
for a change!
Originally posted by bcharna
yayyyyyyyyyyy
no more geeky Bill Gates
Microshit is going down
hey bill is a good guy in some aspects. with all his money he could just kick his feet up and be a lazy fat ass. what is he doing? he's going to save people lives, give others hope.
not a bad guy if you ask me. he knows what he's done, he knows he got lucky, and now he's doing what he can for those dealt with not so fortunate circumstances.