Next year, Bill Gates is planning to reduce his role at Microsoft in order to step up his efforts to give away $33 billion through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The New York Times today runs an interview with the Microsoft chairman as well as commentary about the upcoming leadership transition, and Gates’ thoughts on tech trends.
Speaking to three executives about Gates’ departure, the Times finds that all three agree that the greatest danger to the company “would be if Mr. Gates continues to make decisions while not staying deeply involved.” The paper remains optimistic about the transition, however, as new Chief Executive Steven A. Ballmer “has been largely successful in shouldering the burden of running Microsoft.” (For tips on how to handle your own departure from a management position, check out BNET Basics: Handling Your Resignation With Style).
The Microsoft executives interviewed offer a vision of the future in which,
“Centralized data storage will make it possible for PC users to gain access to most or all of their information from all of the different types of computers they use, whether they are desktops, laptops or smartphones, and wherever they are located.”
The future, according to this view, is mobile, web-based, and integrated, and the execs at Microsoft are developing a “software-as-a- services strategy” to confront it.
As Gates comments:
“the center of gravity in the computer industry has dramatically shifted toward software. Why do you like your iPod, your iPhone, your Xbox 360, your Google Search? The real magic sauce is not the parts that we buy for the Xbox, or the parts that Apple buys for iPhones, it’s the software that goes into it.”
What is your team or company doing to prepare for and capitalize on this shift in the computer industry?
