So, today was Bill Gates’s last ‘official’ day at Microsoft. He’s now spending the rest of his life giving away his money to deprived people.
However, the departure of Bill Gates is going to be bad for Microsoft. The Beastmaster at least had some idea what businesses and users wanted in the product, and shared some of their frustration with himself; an internal e-mail, dug up by a Seattle newspaper recently, complained to some of his colleagues that he was experiencing extreme difficulty downloading the latest version of Movie Maker. He wasn’t what you’d call an innovator, but he certainly capitalised very well on the demands for programming languages, OSes and office software.
I really can’t think of anything very original to say about Mr. Gates, because his life has been documented down to practically every detail in the media. However, I will say this: Gates’s (sometimes selfish and ruthless) streak has certainly made him one of the most successful businessmen of all time - an amazing achievement for someone who dropped out of college.
Original image by Kees de Vos on Flickr. Used under license.
