Kicked out Bill Gates enjoys the Poison that gestated when Micro

Kicked out Bill Gates enjoys the Poison that gestated when Microsoft to be listed

                   

                  Frank  Oct. 6, 2013  in Waterloo, Canada

          http://frank-waterloo.blog.163.com/blog/static/2052390292013924390430/

 

      Recently, there were reports that  Microsoft investors push for chairman Gates to Step Down after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was pushed to retire early, such as:

      1. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was pushed to retire early

      2. Exclusive: Microsoft investors push for chairman Gates to step down 

      I think this is the Deadly Side Effect of Microsoft to be listed has started the toxicity attack. It may be harmful for the development of Microsoft after two experienced top leaders to be ousted.

      April, 4 2013, in the article <Dividend Makes Industrious German Lazy>, I have discussed the side effect of a enterprises to be listed by the experience of Robert Bosch GmbH - a German enterprise. It experienced the process of to be listed and then to be delisted. Now I copy some of paragraph here, let us to see why and how?

      Robert Bosch, the German industrialist, engineer and inventor. He has found the Robert Bosch GmbH in 1886. His philosophy is that “we should all strive to improve current situation.”

      As same as that of many German enterprises, the Robert Bosch GmbH is significant in great scale of operation with many inventions, but rarely aired. The name of this company is not popular, but their products are popular, very popular. Here, I mention two inventions of them to demonstrate its popular: Automotive spark plugs, and Car anti-lock braking system – ABS.

      As that of general popular practice of business operation world widely, in 1930s Robert Bosch GmbH once had listed and gave the stock to the management team. After a while, Mr. Robert Bosch found the top mangers changed their habit and attitude, they went to lazy and not work as hard as before. The dividend income encouraged them paying attention on enjoying life. So Mr. Robert Bosch changed his mind to have bought back the stock and delisted.

      At that time, only three people knew this secret, and it was disclosed until recently by Mr. Franz Fehrenbach, the incumbent president of Robert Bosch GmbH, when he was accepting the interview of talk show of China Central Television in May 20 2012.

      The delisting has played a positive effect to the development of the enterprise. The interview also has revealed that Robert Bosch GmbH is ranked at 119 in the world’s top 500 enterprises. The sales revenue is 50 billion euros, in which the profit is about 8%. It is inventing 16 patents a day. Its technology is playing a role of determining the level of the development of the automotive industry of the world and is earning most of the profits of the vehicle manufacturing.

      Since, its every effort is affecting the development of the world's automotive industry, and thus, it is referred to as the Intel of automotive industry. As long as you drive, you can not do without it, because the core components of the inside of your car are almost all manufactured by Robert Bosch GmbH.

      Above is the story of listed and delisted in incentting the work enthusiastic of staff. But that is not enough,  Mr. Robert Bosch also summarized other bad effects as listed Company.    

      1. Loss of autonomic power in decision-making.

      2. Loss of autonomic power in financing.

      3. The pursuit of the stock market value will be made fall into a short-term behavior in business running, to affect long-term development investment.

      4. Listed Company can not keep excellent CEO, they may be ousted due to poor short-term profit caused by focusing long term investment. Some prospective researches may need long time to reach practical results, such as, 5 years, 10 years, even more. 

      The hard experience of Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates is a good example.They  are being attacked by Deadly Side Effect from Microsoft to be listed.

      In the article <129 years Rationalization Proposals in Germany>, I have introduced a more significant incentive measure that is popular in Germany. It is the Key of German companies keeping in full vibrant.

                                                  --- frank Oct. 6 2013 in Canada

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was pushed to retire early

By Zach Epstein on Aug 26, 2013 at 7:15 PM

 

This time next year, Steve Ballmer will no longer be the CEO of the world’s largest software company. The widely criticized executive announced last week that he planned to retire from his role as Microsoft’s chief within the next year, and he penned a heartfelt letter to Microsoft employees as part of the announcement. While the maligned Microsoft boss said in interviews that the decision to leave was his, a new report from AllThingsD’s always reliable Kara Swisher paints a different picture of Ballmer’s departure.

Swisher says she interviewed dozens of people inside Microsoft and close to the company, and they say the Ballmer’s imminent retirement was “neither planned nor as smooth as portrayed” by Microsoft or by Ballmer in interviews.

“While the decision to go seems to have technically been Ballmer’s, interviews with dozens of people inside and outside the company, including many close to the situation, indicate that he had not aimed to leave this soon and especially after the recent restructuring of the company that he had intensely planned,” Swisher wrote.

In other words, he was pushed out early.

The report states that the timeline of Ballmer’s retirement was accelerated “drastically” by the Microsoft boss and the company’s board of directors, including Bill Gates. “That was due to a number of increasingly problematic issues on the immediate horizon — including a potentially nasty proxy fight, continued business performance declines and, perhaps most of all, that Ballmer’s leadership was becoming a very obvious lightning rod,” the report stated.

Swisher also noted that several of her sources said Bill Gates personally never asked Ballmer to step down earlier than initially planned, though he did support the notion once it was being discussed by the board.

2. Exclusive: Microsoft investors push for chairman Gates to Step Down

http://www.reuters.com/article/comments/idUSBRE9901H320131002

 

            

Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks during the Millennium Development Goals event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, at the U.N. Headquarters in New York September 25, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

By Nadia Damouni and Bill Rigby

NEW YORK/SEATTLE | Tue Oct 1, 2013 9:11pm EDT

NEW YORK/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Three of the top 20 investors in Microsoft Corp are lobbying the board to press for Bill Gates to step down as chairman of the software company he co-founded 38 years ago, according to people familiar with matter.

While Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has been under pressure for years to improve the company's performance and share price, this appears to be the first time that major shareholders are taking aim at Gates, who remains one of the most respected and influential figures in technology.

A representative for Microsoft declined to comment on Tuesday.

There is no indication that Microsoft's board would heed the wishes of the three investors, who collectively hold more than 5 percent of the company's stock, according to the sources. They requested the identity of the investors be kept anonymous because the discussions were private.

Gates owns about 4.5 percent of the $277 billion company and is its largest individual shareholder.

The three investors are concerned that Gates' role as chairman effectively blocks the adoption of new strategies and would limit the power of a new chief executive to make substantial changes. In particular, they point to Gates' role on the special committee searching for Ballmer's successor.

They are also worried that Gates - who spends most of his time on his philanthropic foundation - wields power out of proportion to his declining shareholding.

Gates, who owned 49 percent of Microsoft before it went public in 1986, sells about 80 million Microsoft shares a year under a pre-set plan, which if continued would leave him with no financial stake in the company by 2018.

He lowered his profile at Microsoft after he handed the CEO role to Ballmer in 2000, giving up his day-to-day work there in 2008 to focus on the $38 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In August, Ballmer said he would retire within 12 months, amid pressure from activist fund manager ValueAct Capital Management.

Microsoft is now looking for a new CEO, though its board has said Ballmer's strategy will go forward. He has focused on making devices, such as the Surface tablet and Xbox gaming console, and turning key software into services provided over the Internet. Some investors say that a new chief should not be bound by that strategy.

News that some investors were pushing for Gates' ouster as chairman provoked mixed reactions from other shareholders.

"This is long overdue," said Todd Lowenstein, a portfolio manager at HighMark Capital Management, which owns Microsoft shares. "Replacing the old guard with some fresh eyes can provide the oxygen needed to properly evaluate their corporate strategy."

Kim Caughey Forrest, senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, suggested now was not the time for Microsoft to ditch Gates, and that he could even play a larger role.

"I've thought that the company has been missing a technology visionary," she said. "Bill (Gates) would fit the bill."

Microsoft is still one of the world's most valuable technology companies, making a net profit of $22 billion last fiscal year. But its core Windows computing operating system, and to a lesser extent the Office software suite, are under pressure from the decline in personal computers as smartphones and tablets grow more popular.

Shares of Microsoft have been essentially static for a decade, and the company has lost ground to Apple Inc and Google Inc in the move toward mobile computing.

One of the sources said Gates was one of the technology industry's greatest pioneers, but the investors felt he was more effective as chief executive than as chairman.

(Editing by Stephen Coates)

Comments (58)

josephmartins wrote:

Collectively the three own slightly more than Gates himself. A whole 5% stake? Take a hike should be the appropriate response to that group. Plenty of investors standing in line to take their place.

Oct 01, 2013 9:28pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

nose2066 wrote:

What’s so interesting is that for years Microsoft protected their software monopoly by copying other people’s software and incorporating that software as a free addition to Microsoft’s own products – like adding an internet browser to Windows for example (That famously killed off Netscape Navigator). Well, now Google has returned the favor by giving away an operating system for free (Android) in order to help sell Google’s advertising. Meanwhile, various software companies are selling office replacement applications for a nominal price – about $10 per application.

Apparently the strategy of going into devices, is to try to protect Microsoft’s monopoly in the software business (the hardware ties you to the software). So far, very few people want to buy a Microsoft brand computer and now Microsoft is competing with the hardware vendors that are its big customers.

Oct 01, 2013 9:58pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

tjordanchat wrote:

The guy is a crook. I worked for Novell when Gates ordered his engineers to break Netware so that it looks like an inferior product. It worked and Gates became gangster number one.

Oct 01, 2013 10:07pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

oldcarman wrote:

I will resist ever having to use software I pay for, that lives on somebody else’s server. This is the worst scam anyone has thought of. Downloading was bad enough… I guess the Chinese will have to figure out a way to hack their server to make the software affordable!

Oct 01, 2013 10:24pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

JohnTheGreen wrote:

The entire industry is done. We are breaking in to a new paradigm where “Computers” cost $49.99 and software is free. If you had big plans of selling tablets for just under a grand, than you will quickly be made extinct. It is hardly an industry when no one has a good reason to upgrade… and even if they did… it wouldn’t cost anything to do so. Officially mature at this point. It’s over. We don’t need programmers either, just a few people to do maintenance here and there.

Oct 01, 2013 10:27pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

tjordanchat wrote:

It is about time. Bill Gates was from a different era. A more cowboy era. He will be fine.

Oct 01, 2013 10:48pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

tjordanchat wrote:

The picture reminds me of Bill Gates telling the courts that he can outsmart them anyday. The problem is that this is recorded history.

Oct 01, 2013 10:53pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

tjordanchat wrote:

Thank God for guys like Stallman and Torvalds.

Oct 01, 2013 10:55pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

ARJTurgot2 wrote:

Is it just me, or does that picture make Gates look like Woody Allen?

Oct 01, 2013 11:01pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

tjordanchat wrote:

There is no indication that Microsoft’s board would heed the wishes of the three investors

But still, I am sure you know a good story when you see one.

Oct 01, 2013 11:40pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

brianpforbes wrote:

I struggle to understand how investors, who are not interviewed or hired by Microsoft, should have any say in the company’s strategy. It doesn’t seem the company is in great need of investors anyhow , not to mention their mere 5% ownership of stock ? Where did this investor-centric view of the universe originate ?

Oct 01, 2013 11:58pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

amd65 wrote:

On the one hand, BillG is a nice guy who has build this business with his blood and sweat, and these investors have a lot of nerver to suggest he leaves.

On another hand, a company such as Microsoft, one of the largest in America, deserves a top guy who is 150% committed to making the company successful. Gates is mostly committed to philanthropy right now (kudos to him), and not to running Microsoft. So he should move on, or else a new CEO will never be able to truly run the show there with The Big Founder being a chairman.

Oct 01, 2013 12:01am EDT  --  Report as abuse

amd65 wrote:

On the one hand, BillG is a nice guy who has build this business with his blood and sweat, and these investors have a lot of nerver to suggest he leaves.

On another hand, a company such as Microsoft, one of the largest in America, deserves a top guy who is 150% committed to making the company successful. Gates is mostly committed to philanthropy right now (kudos to him), and not to running Microsoft. So he should move on, or else a new CEO will never be able to truly run the show there with The Big Founder being a chairman.

Oct 01, 2013 12:01am EDT  --  Report as abuse

leungsite wrote:

I also hold minority shares in MS on the belief Bill Gates is a super-heavy corner stone for this company. Why is his presence appeared so much objectionable to some substantial stakeholders who somehow want symbolic leader to sidestep ？ I wouldn’t wager for such change.

Oct 02, 2013 1:49am EDT  --  Report as abuse

YesNoMaybeSo wrote:

It was Gates baby to begin with, they wouldn’t have a pot to pee in if it wasn’t for him. Balmy was the one to push out, it deserves must better than him…and why did it take so long to realize that.

Oct 02, 2013 1:57am EDT  --  Report as abuse

izrahim wrote:

Maybe he can do a Steve Jobs and return to Microsoft as the CEO.

Oct 02, 2013 1:59am EDT  --  Report as abuse

Verpoly wrote:

Hang around in the flea market for a whole day just to end up buying a broken lamp. Nobody wants another Madoff-like coming back to chair the board.

Oct 02, 2013 2:14am EDT  --  Report as abuse

marusik wrote:

What a joke! The world’s richest man being asked to surrender his post?

This is what I love about Capitalism…

It’s all about shareholders sake, or stake in this case…

Oct 02, 2013 2:30am EDT  --  Report as abuse

stphnsn wrote:

He should go to work for Grey Matter.

Oct 02, 2013 2:40am EDT  --  Report as abuse

beancube2101 wrote:

Bulky software will no be tolerated because they locked down users’ properties, assets and data.

Oct 02, 2013 5:15am EDT  --  Report as abuse

1_Stock wrote:

It may sound…. but it is about time to…..!

Oct 02, 2013 6:23am EDT  --  Report as abuse

Gmann20213 wrote:

Shows that the value, of an original creator, Bill Gates, is undervalued. But of course, the three investors could be ‘Trojan horses’, placed to confused, deceive and even create chaos during this time interval. All business is a form of war. What did Sun Zu say? All war is a form of deceit!!

Oct 02, 2013 7:13am EDT  --  Report as abuse

clemency13 wrote:

Though I have disliked Windows in recent years and switched to linux system, I must agree that Bill Gates and Microsoft did indeed revolutionize the computer domain. Had it not been for Bill Gates, computers might not have been so ubiquitous as they are now!…I specifically adore Steve Jobs, but Bill Gates is a respectable pioneer too. He put in a lot of effort to build Microsoft. Its indeed a shame that people ask him to step down on support of 5% share.

Oct 02, 2013 8:01am EDT  --  Report as abuse

NotRusskie wrote:

Billionaire Gates stole everything from the very beginning. I watched him on TV a few years ago not answering pointed questions how his company came up to existence. It’s widely well known now.
Notwithstanding hundreds of billions of dollars this company is done because it was based on lies and deceptions. Just recall .NET affair when they cracked Java open to create a “better” Microsoft software.
You can stick fork in it. Filet Mignon.

Oct 02, 2013 8:18am EDT  --  Report as abuse

Zappo15 wrote:

Sounds ridiculous but microsoft is going down. The surface is worthless and not selling its not connected to wireless phones and windows 8 is a bad operating system. The MS management team is fat and complacent. The Koreans are very active and Google is just getting going. The problem is not Gates stepping down who is going to step up? Nobody worthwhile.

Oct 02, 2013 8:39am EDT  --  Report as abuse

rkhalloran wrote:

Gates did a BASIC for the original 8-bit computers back in the day. He lucked out when IBM came to him to provide the OS for the original PC, which he ended up buying from a small Seattle developer (do a wiki search on 86-DOS). The market-hoarding tactics MS employed during the 90s are well-documented. Now the market is moving to mobiles & tablets, where MS has failed spectacularly to gain traction, and dragged Nokia down with them in the process. Trying to force a small, touch-screen model onto traditional PCs with Windows 8 has gone over with a resounding thud, leading to reduced sales for the typical OEMs (it’s telling that HP is now selling an Android-based convertible tablet). MS has no major successes outside of Windows (and to the XBox fans, remember that it only started outselling PS3 & Wii this past year, and Nintendo still has more units sold than MS & Sony combined), and there looks to be little prospect of changing that anytime soon.

Ballmer needed to go, but he was acting on BillG’s mindset of protecting Windows+Office at all costs. With the migration to mobiles and tablets, and the BYOD mindset taking hold in many businesses, the MS infrastructure is beginning to be seen as more of an obstacle than an advantage, and that mindset actively harmful to the company’s long-term prospects.

Oct 02, 2013 9:38am EDT  --  Report as abuse

rkhalloran wrote:

Gates did a BASIC for the original 8-bit computers back in the day. He lucked out when IBM came to him to provide the OS for the original PC, which he ended up buying from a small Seattle developer (do a wiki search on 86-DOS). The market-hoarding tactics MS employed during the 90s are well-documented. Now the market is moving to mobiles & tablets, where MS has failed spectacularly to gain traction, and dragged Nokia down with them in the process. Trying to force a small, touch-screen model onto traditional PCs with Windows 8 has gone over with a resounding thud, leading to reduced sales for the typical OEMs (it’s telling that HP is now selling an Android-based convertible tablet). MS has no major successes outside of Windows (and to the XBox fans, remember that it only started outselling PS3 & Wii this past year, and Nintendo still has more units sold than MS & Sony combined), and there looks to be little prospect of changing that anytime soon.

Ballmer needed to go, but he was acting on BillG’s mindset of protecting Windows+Office at all costs. With the migration to mobiles and tablets, and the BYOD mindset taking hold in many businesses, the MS infrastructure is beginning to be seen as more of an obstacle than an advantage, and that mindset actively harmful to the company’s long-term prospects.

Oct 02, 2013 9:38am EDT  --  Report as abuse

Jack___Davis wrote:

They had to Photoshop his index finger into the picture.

Oct 02, 2013 9:52am EDT  --  Report as abuse

ChangeWhat wrote:

LoL the balls on these investors, he could by their shares for 3x there worth and throw in a trip around the world too. Idiot shareholders think they have the know how to run a company like Microsoft. I’ll say if it wasn’t for mommy and daddy helping these shareholders when they were younger financially, they wouldn’t have a pot to piss in today.

Oct 02, 2013 9:53am EDT  --  Report as abuse

LibsAreSatan wrote:

Investors should be pushing for MS to eradicate Windows 8 from the planet.

Oct 02, 2013 10:10am EDT  --  Report as abuse

JIMTFMB wrote:

What fools. Bill Gates is one of the best men to ever walk the face of the Earth.

Oct 02, 2013 10:17am EDT  --  Report as abuse

Cleansesociety wrote:

How can Microsoft suck so much?!

Why can’t these guys realize they need to stop reinventing the wheel?!
While I’m am not very familiar with the nuances of tablet/mobile apps industry/market, I DO know that windows 7 and 8 are absolute boon doggles and PC killers. I’m just amazed at how behemoths like GM, Microsoft, Ford, etc… continually screw up and seem to be in the process of committing business suicide.

Bottom line – stop reinventing the wheel, improve performance through adding functuality without altering the basic user interface that the vast majority of us finally got accustomed too over the last 20+ years.

Oct 02, 2013 10:18am EDT  --  Report as abuse

tmc wrote:

These are the kind of investors that believe that you let entrepreneurs build a name brand then you buy it from them, milk it for all it’s worth until it is nothing but a dried up husk of what it was, then sell off the remaining assets and buy the next name brand you can find. It’s the American way. Welcome to the USCA.

Oct 02, 2013 10:31am EDT  --  Report as abuse

kelliann wrote:

They need to re-learn the fact that people use Microsoft products for specific things and that’s what they want them for. They don’t want another company aping Apple. As long as they keep trying to break into markets they don’t belong in, their shares will never go anywhere. They have something unique. They need to focus on it.

Oct 02, 2013 11:51am EDT  --  Report as abuse

thebeaver wrote:

I’m left wondering why this is in the news?? I seriously doubt (whomever these 3 clowns are) that their suggestion would be taken seriously by anyone that matters.

Oct 02, 2013 11:53am EDT  --  Report as abuse

Sue01 wrote:

Finally…while Bill himself became a billionaire, now $$ safe from taxes in a “trust”, the stock is still in the $40′s…while Apple and Google are out in the stratophere moving to exit the solar system!!

Oct 02, 2013 12:00pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

donbvonb wrote:

Fire all the humanitarians to make room for more corporate collusion and implementation of rights violating tech! Capitalism is so wonderful, you guys!

Oct 02, 2013 12:18pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

Jake987 wrote:

Maybe Gates and Obama could just exchange jobs?

Oct 02, 2013 1:10pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

numb3r2 wrote:

This seems familiar didn’t Apple dump Jobs at one time. What happen to Apple? I think Mr. Gates has some type of handle on the technology business he arguably created. He definitely has more sources and resources than the rest of you. : )

Oct 02, 2013 1:30pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

chekovmerlin wrote:

He “invented” Microsoft. He made it what it was. For shame. Men’s Warehouse the same. Kick out the person who started the company and made it what it is. No sense of history, not gratitude for those who began the company. If Jobs hadn’t died, they would have got rid of him also.

Oct 02, 2013 1:41pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

chekovmerlin wrote:

He “invented” Microsoft. He made it what it was. For shame. Men’s Warehouse the same. Kick out the person who started the company and made it what it is. No sense of history, not gratitude for those who began the company. If Jobs hadn’t died, they would have got rid of him also.

Oct 02, 2013 1:41pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

RPhillips111 wrote:

I would think Gates and Ballmer both would want to hang on until Obama leaves office. Like the media, it’ their “job”, to see that Obama succeeds, and the power of Microsoft has been and continues to be a very active arm of the “Obama Movement”.

But then, Gates appears to already be partnering with JeeeBBB Bush as Obama’s successor, so maybe Gates and Ballmer feel their work for Obama is basically over.

Oct 02, 2013 2:04pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

sharktail wrote:

The devil in an angels disguise

Oct 02, 2013 2:19pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

richardrothey wrote:

Finally, everyone is getting to the crux of the whole problem. Microsoft needs an infusion of fresh talent with fresh ideas.

Oct 02, 2013 3:05pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

bullfrog84 wrote:

Great. People without the brains want those with brains to get out of the way so they can make more money.

If you don’t like it don’t buy it.

Oct 02, 2013 4:30pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

johnriley wrote:

Bill Gates is the brain behind Microsoft. He is present as the founder, not interfering in the operations at all. He can’t be replaced. If this happens, already under-fire Microsoft will face pressure from all corners.

Oct 02, 2013 6:38pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

ded2me wrote:

They want him out. And I want him to stop pushing poison vaccines onto everyone. And he can keep his GMO mosquitos too.

Oct 02, 2013 6:42pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

CmdrBuzz wrote:

Gates should have stepped down 38 years ago and then we would not ever had that piece of crap known as Windows thrust upon computer users.

Oct 02, 2013 7:00pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

CmdrBuzz wrote:

Gates should have stepped down 38 years ago and then we would not ever had that piece of crap known as Windows thrust upon computer users.

Oct 02, 2013 7:00pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

CmdrBuzz wrote:

Bill Gates should have stepped down 38 years ago and then we would not have had that piece of crap Windows thrust upon computer users.

Oct 02, 2013 7:06pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

jncarlos007 wrote:

I think Gates is too busy training his private Blackwater army and monopolizing education to really care about MS anymore. He just wants the title so people still call him up for his opinion.
At some point the man went Soros and nobody noticed…

Oct 02, 2013 7:13pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

TumeloDavidKubu wrote:

I agree with joseph, why would a group “minorities” be against Bill ? Yes the company is kind of slacking while there is alot of challenge in the marketing but getting Bill out is not a good move! This is always in IT / Web companies, when the CEO / Founder has or is close to archiving their vision someone or people have to be against it… People who where not there when the company started!!!!

Oct 02, 2013 7:21pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

LynxEye wrote:

Well, Gates isn’t a saint, but he it’s Beelzebub either. He’s simply a hard-nosed dirty street fighter businessman, like a lot of people. His charity work is a fa?ade. Bill and Malinda care about Bill and Malinda, it’s as simple as that.

Oct 02, 2013 9:10pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

OlMart wrote:

Wow.. this is Steve Jobs and Apple all over again.

You gotta love talentless shareholders who make such huge decisions. But it is their money.

Another Con of being a public company.

Oct 02, 2013 9:58pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

TJPride wrote:

The Surface was actually a good idea – with one major flaw. It’s running Windows. I would totally buy a Mac OS / iOS hybrid touchscreen, but I am tired of reinstalling Windows over and over because of gaping security holes. I can not use a Windows computer for work.

Oct 02, 2013 9:58pm EDT  --  Report as abuse

rkhalloran wrote:

Gates needs to keep arms-length from Ballmer’s replacement, or that person will simply be seen as Just Another Sockpuppet For BillG. Gates is unloading his MS holdings over the next five years to fund his foundation; let him keep some figurehead position on the board until then but let The New Guy have the breathing room to make the necessary decisions to keep the company relevant in the current tech space. Given the problems with Win8, Surface, WinPhone and XB One, Ballmer’s successor has their work cut out for them.

Oct 03, 2013 8:16am EDT  --  Report as abuse

rkhalloran wrote:

Gates needs to keep arms-length from Ballmer’s replacement, or that person will simply be seen as Just Another Sockpuppet For BillG. Gates is unloading his MS holdings over the next five years to fund his foundation; let him keep some figurehead position on the board until then but let The New Guy have the breathing room to make the necessary decisions to keep the company relevant in the current tech space. Given the problems with Win8, Surface, WinPhone and XB One, Ballmer’s successor has their work cut out for them.

Oct 03, 2013 8:16am EDT  --  Report as abuse

jkolen wrote:

“I’ve thought that the company has been missing a technology visionary,”

The company has always been missing a technological visionary. Bill Gates was a shrewd business man, but never a technological visionary.