Today, as Gates prepares to step down from day-to-day management of the company, another fact is clear: The modern Microsoft remains a company in search of a second act. True, it remains one of the world’s most profitable enterprises, making more profit in its 2007 fiscal year than Apple, Google, Yahoo, Oracle, and Adobe combined. But the cracks in the Microsoft hegemony aren’t just showing, they’re growing.
Gates’ responsibilities is going to be handed over to two executives: Craig Mundie, who takes charge of advanced strategy and policy; and Ray Ozzie, who gets Gates’ old title of chief software architect. Gates remains company chairman.
Gates leaves behind a world of technology and a reputation that will likely grow in stature over time. The company he and Paul Allen founded and that Gates really relentlessly drove for over three decades created an unrivaled universe of extraordinarily popular and successful products, not the least of which is Windows.
There’s an assumption that marketing is a seedy side of business (often because it’s lumped together with PR). Truth is, a good product could go nowhere without smart marketing (and PR). Bill always got that.
With Gates now leaving the building to go off to run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mundie and Ozzie have been left with that small job on their hands.
Source: PC Magazine
Filed under
Business News,
Enterprise Software,
Internet | Tags:
Apple,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Bill Gates,
Fact,
Microsoft,
PC,
Truth,
windows | Comment Below
Related?
Microsoft is Expected to Deliver Windows 7 Next YearApril 6th, 2008 Microsoft Corp. has dropped two strong hints in the past two days that the next version of its Windows operating system, Windows 7, will arrive in 2009, shaving up to a year off previous expectations.
An Analysis of Microsoft Live Search CashbackMay 22nd, 2008 In order to compete with Google, Microsoft decided to return consumers a portion of their purchases if they buy goods through its Live Search cashback program. "I think years from now, you may look back and say, 'Wow, search started to get a fair bit more competitive, and we can look back to that announcement.' We think what we've got is super-neat here, but we can see taking this in some new directions." Microsoft's Bill Gates told the crowd.
Microsoft Search Jumps 15% after Launching Live Cashback PlanJuly 18th, 2008 Microsoft Corp. announced in June, 2008 that it will offer ad-funded cash rebates to customers who find and purchase their favorite products through a new program called Microsoft Live Search cashback.
Is Microsoft a Dying Agent?April 21st, 2009 Bill Gates has nurtured Microsoft from obscurity to a giant corporation. The last few years haven't been especially good ones for Microsoft, despite the fact that it made billion dollar from consumers since it released its last successful operating system Windows XP.
Nvidia Drivers Caused 29% of Vista CrashesMarch 28th, 2008 The Recently released documents from Microsoft discloses the fact that drivers for Nvidia PC graphics cards were the cause of roughly 29% of logged crashes in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, Ars Technica reports. The documentation describes that Nvidia drivers caused 479,000 crashes out of a total of 1,663,748 logged by Microsoft during a certain period in 2007.
Microsoft Launches Virtualization MilestoneJune 28th, 2008 Microsoft has announced the RTM (release to manufacturing) and an available download for its new hypervisor-based server virtualization platform. Hyper-V allows a single physical server to be divided into as many as 64 virtual machines, each running its own server operating system, according to the company.
Windows 7 Enterprise Edition is Less than 3 months Away for Microsoft Subscription CustomersJuly 14th, 2009 Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte said that Enterprise customers who subscribed to any of a number of Microsoft's Volume Licensing programs can access Windows 7 on Sept 1. The consumer version is going to be available on October 22nd.
Microsoft Announced to Buy Search Engine PowersetJuly 1st, 2008 Microsoft Corp. made an announcement to buy San Francisco search company Powerset on Tuesday.
