Bill Gates surrendering Microsoft helm

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO – A
Harvard University
dropout who ushered
in the home computer
age and made billions
of dollars along the
way will have his last
official day of work at
Microsoft on June 27.

Three people will
essentially fill the
void left behind when
Bill Gates retires from
the company he and
friend Paul Allen co-
founded in 1975.

Since Gate’s began his
transition from
leading Microsoft to
heading his personally-
bankrolled charity,
The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, his
job as chief software
architect has been
handled by Ray Ozzie.

Craig Mundie inherited
Gate’s chief research
and strategy officer
duties, while former
Harvard classmate
Steve Ballmer became
chief executive
officer at the Seattle-
based software
colossus.

Gates left Harvard
after two years to
found the firm that
became global
powerhouse
Microsoft. He later
received honorary
degrees from Harvard
and other universities.

After retiring, Gates
will remain chairman
of the Microsoft
board of directors and
its largest
shareholder.

“I don’t think anything
is going to drastically
change the day he
leaves,” said Matt
Rosoff of the private
analyst firm
Directions On
Microsoft.

“If he thinks
something is
important and tells
Steve Ballmer, Ballmer
will listen to him.”

Still, Gates’s
bespectacled nerdish
visage is an integral
part of Microsoft’s
image and his
departure is symbolic,
according to analysts.

“The challenge
Microsoft has when
the founder departs is
remembering its
heart,” said analyst
Rob Enderle of the
Enderle Group in
Silicon Valley.

“At some point the
firm has to take the
essence of what made
Bill Gates successful
and make sure that is
preserved. Whether it
is a company or a
person, once you’ve
lost your heart there
isn’t much left but a
shell.”

Analysts say there
are signs that
Microsoft has been
struggling since Gates
stepped away from
managing operations
several years ago.

Microsoft has “missed
a number of
opportunities” and the
Windows and Office
software on which its
fortune is built have
stumbled.

Microsoft’s Windows
Vista operating
system released in
January of 2007 has
flopped with
customers, many of
whom are clinging to
its predecessor
Windows XP.

“They are in trouble
on the desktop
(computer software),”
Enderle said.
“Microsoft started as
a desktop vendor and
suddenly it is its
weakness.”

Meanwhile, Apple’s
Macintosh computers
have been gaining
popularity.

While Windows is still
used on 90 percent of
the world’s
computers, Macintosh
computers using Apple
operating systems
has grown to more
than five percent of
the market.

The software giant
also sees its bottom
line threatened by
Google, which offers
free online programs
that compete with
Office and other
packaged software
sold by Microsoft.

Microsoft failed in a
recent bid to buy
Yahoo for nearly 50
billion dollars in order
to combine online
resources to better
battle Google in the
Internet search and
advertising market.

Enderle said he
doesn’t see “Gates’s
fingers” in the
attempted Yahoo
takeover, and Gates
was likely among
board members that
backed pulling the
plug on acquisition
talks.

“Microsoft has to
leverage its
strengths; right now
it is thrashing a bit,”
Enderle said. “The
company is on its
own. The training
wheels are off. It
needs a way to point
itself in the right
direction and peddle
like hell.”

Microsoft’s server
and tools division is
its most profitable
unit. It’s
entertainment unit,
which sells Xbox
videogame consoles
and gaming software,
has yet to make a
profit.

“You could see
Microsoft struggling
after Bill Gates
stepped out of day-to-
day roles,” Enderle
said.

“A founder takes such
a larger-than-life role
and directs a company
in very subtle ways
that are often
forgotten when a
founder leaves. That
gap, for a lot of
companies, has been
almost terminal.”

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