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Gates begins his last month at Microsoft

by on03 June 2008

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T-minus 30 and counting


Bill Gates,
the co-founder of Microsoft, announced some time ago that he would officially step down as the head of Microsoft.  After 33 years at the company he announced that he would leave at the end of June 2008 to devote more time to the mega charitable foundation that he and his wife, Melinda, have founded.

His critics say that he has been retiring for ‘too long’ – he announced almost two years ago his imminent retirement. And he won’t be completely gone from the Redmond, Washington company. Gates still plans to spend about 20 percent of his time working on Microsoft technology projects. His legacy includes introduction of the computer to the masses, making sizeable fortunes for many hundreds of thousands of Microsoft employees and business partners, not to mention Microsoft shareholders. Gates has also helped the U.S. maintain its lead as world leader in global technology.

Those who don’t like Bill Gates also complain that he has overcharged potentially hundreds of millions of customers for software that sometimes didn’t work, and that his business tactics were monopolistic and heavy handed in order to beat back challengers.

But as history is written it will be clear that what Bill Gates has done for technology will carry as much weight as many other key inventions in the 20th century.  Can you imagine typing a letter on a typewriter again?  What about living without email and having to send all correspondence by snail mail?

Last modified on 03 June 2008
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