microsoft end times: first scoble, now gates
Holy Microsoft shakeup! Seattle’s favorite richest guy in the universe announced plans to step down as chairman of from his day-to-day role at Microsoft [king]. The transition will take two years (or, as a commenter on digg put it, “just in time for Vista to ship”). For now, he’s given up the Chief Software Architect title.
All of this leaving is about wanting to save the world though something other than software, as Gates plans to shift his focus to the charitable efforts at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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In less worldview shattering Microsoft news, it turns out that the company liked Apple’s latest ads [#] so much that they’re also grabbing a Daily Show correspondent to advertise their new version of Windows [pi]. [Ed: it worked for their OS, why not for their commercials?] The new face of Vista will be Dimitri Martin, whom you probably remember from “Trendspotting” pieces, like this one about myspace [youtube].
(via Digg [#, #]; image via snopes [#])
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Not quite accurate. Bill Gates has two jobs at Microsoft right now; he is chairman of the board and chief software architect. Chairman of the board, like any board job, is a part-time commitment. Chief software architect is a full-time job.
Gates is leaving the full-time chief software architect position to Ray Ozzie in July 2008. He will remain chairman of the board. Realistically, he’ll probably be on the board as long as he wants to be, given the large percentage of MSFT stock he still personally controls.
Thanks. I think I’ve fixed the text of the post to be slightly more accurate. The KING article was a little more confusing than the one on CNN [#]