News :: July 2008 & Bill will be Out of Gate

So the word is officially out ..Bill Gates ..The Richest man in world and Founder of Microsoft has finally decide to step down from Day to day responsibilities of Microsoft's operations in July 2008 .HE will be assuming more of an Advisory role in the company . he will still be the chairman of the company and its single largest individual share holder . He plan to devote more time to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Charity work .

This news caught me with surprise i am still in a state of shock .Can People like Bill Gates ever retire is it possible for them ?? I still believe its not . he is a great Business Leader and Visionary and of course in few quarter he is practical also . He may lack Steve Jobs Charisma ,he may not be in news like Jack Welch or Soros for his passionate believe in anything and propaganda around his believe and he may not be able to communicate like Paul Graham but he is in my view the brightest master of strategy world has ever seen in recent history .

Will Microsoft become a lesser company without BillG ? will it make things easier for Google ? Is it just a Smoke and Mirror Tactics to withdraw attention away and saving the company from too much of public scrutiny ?? will BillG's Ghost haunt Redmond ? is the days of Desktop computing over ? are we finally entering in to always on ,always on demand , web ( 2.0) based world .

I don't know . I don't think anybody know for sure . i am sure of two things

#1) It will not change a thing for Google . for a company of the size of google & Microsoft you (Usually ) don't need a competitor to Kill yourself . your weight and foolishness is enough to do a good job of it .

#2)Biggest beneficiary of this move will be MS it self as a lot of hidden talent in MS top brass will come out from the shadow of banyan tree (Read BillG) and will get there share of lime light . it will give a tough competition to any suspecting rival.

#3) Desktop computing will remain a dominant paradigm of personal Computing for a long time to come .

#4) Bill Gates will remain the richest Man for a long time to come .

I am still pondering over the long term implication of this news . will post a full fledged analysis sometime over the weekend. however Joel Spoksky has given an excellent write up on his first meeting with Bill G when he was working with Microsoft . its worth reading. Find it here .