Tears and triumphs as Gates says his final goodbye

Davey Winder
Saturday, 28 June 2008 03:44

IT Industry - Strategy

Friday 27th June will go down in geek history as the day Bill Gates officially left behind his Microsoft day job. As Bill wiped away the tears at the Redmond HQ, we look back at some magic Microsoft moments and mistakes...

Can it really be 33 years ago that a 17 year old geek called Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft with his friend Paul Allen? Can it really be true that, having literally changed the face of computing and becoming the world's richest man for many consecutive years, Gates has finally stepped down from the day to day business of running the company?

The answer, of course, is yes on both counts. Speaking before employees at the Microsoft headquarters within the magnificent campus in Redmond, Seattle, Gates is reported to have wiped away the tears as he spoke with great emotion about his feelings for the company.

"There won't be a day in my life when I won't be thinking about Microsoft, the great things that we're doing and wanting to help" Gates said.

Naturally he got a standing ovation. Equally naturally, the ever emotional and exuberant Steve Ballmer gave one of his famously animated speeches. The Microsoft CEO applauded 'Bill the leader' and admitted that "there's no way to say thanks to Bill."

Of course, the truth is that Bill has billions of thanks in the bank. Indeed, he is standing down so as to be able to concentrate on his charitable work and in what could be a remake of Brewster's Millions he will do his very best to give away most of his fortune before he dies.

What's more, Gates remains the majority individual shareholder at Microsoft as well as Chairman of the board. He has not exactly got on his horse and disappeared into the sunset here. In fact, he will be spending a day a week working with Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie at Microsoft.

Admitting those Microsoft mistakes. Read on for more...

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