Gates' Last Day At Microsoft

mrogers writes "Today is Bill Gates' last day as a full-time employee of Microsoft. After 33 years at the company, the one-time richest man in the world will be retiring at 52 to spend more time guiding the charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What would you buy him as a retirement gift?"

Comments

Retirement Gift

[ilovegeorgebush]

Blatantly a tux toy.

For all my *NIX & FOSS zealotry, I can't help but respect what he's brought to the world. His & MS's achievements have been broad and they've paved the way for multiple industries. Maybe I wouldn't be writing this on a Linux box if it wasn't for Windows :)

Re:Retirement Gift

[stretch0611]

...MS's achievements have been broad and they've paved the way for multiple industries. Maybe I wouldn't be writing this on a Linux box if it wasn't for Windows :)

I do not agree with that assumption. First off, Unix was not created because of MS and/or Windows and Linux was created as a Unix clone, not specifically to compete with windows. If the pc hardware was not around it would have been built on different hardware.

Next, even without MS, IBM would have still been looking for an OS for its new computing platform. Because it was IBM, which at the time was the de facto standard/monopoly, there still would have been a clone market even without MS's help. If the clone market did not provide enough cheap hardware, there would have been cheap hardware from either the computers running CP/M or even the home market (Amiga and/or older 8bits computers)

Linux evolved from someone's desire to clone minix, not from a need to use something other than windows.

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

When can we look forward to a day without Ballmer? That would truly be a day to celebrate.

Re:So...

[Zwicky]

I know you're joking ("funny cos it's true" humor?), but - and maybe I'm not giving Ballmer enough credit here[0] - I really can't see Ballmer keeping Microsoft afloat in the long-term. Call it a gut feeling. The man is but an ogre really.

If anything saves Microsoft - aside from its stockpiles of cash - it will be Bill's advice imparted on his one-day-a-week-on-Microsoft-business.

I am certainly not enamored with Gates by any means, but I do recognize that (in my view) he was the brains behind the outfit: Ballmer is Robin to Gates' Batman; Cashman and Dobbin? "Holy developers, developers, developers, Cashman!"[1]

Personally unless Microsoft pull something exceptional out of the bag I expect to see them decline as 'market leaders'. I am interested in hearing others', perhaps more informed, thoughts.

Anyway that's how I see it from my point of view but IANABA (business analyst).

[0] Stop laughing, I'm trying to be impartial :)
[1] That right there is why I don't write comic books.

Re:Ooh! Oooh! I know!

[stretch0611]

What would you buy him as a retirement gift?"

Nothing. I have already given him enough money by paying for his OS when I want to run linux.

Re:A handshake.

[intx13]

How does this myth stay alive? There were personal computers before Bill Gates: Macs. There were personal computers during the early rise of Microsoft: Macs, OS/2, Suns. There were personal computers throughout the Bill Gates glory days: Macs, Linux, (and Suns, kinda). And there are personal computers today. And there would have been personal computers without Bill Gates.

That's not to say his contributions are worthless, but let's not start patting him too hard on the back just because he's retiring. He used questionably ethical business practices to produce and sell products of questionable quality.

On the plus side, he's going to spend the rest of his life giving away enormous sums of money to charity - there's not much to dislike about that!

Re:Ooh! Oooh! I know!

[bloodninja]

The man should be given a Nobel Peace Prize. Windows has done more to make technology available to non-tech experts than anyone else.

The man should be given a Nobel Peace Prize. Windows has done more to make money for techies due to the unnecessary complexities imposed on non-tech experts than anyone else.

There. I corrected it for you. No you dolt. Press control X. Everyone knows that. Pay up.

I credit Windows for bringing the price of consumer hardware down, especially Vista. Just think, if Vista were not so HW-heavy would we have today Dual- and Quad- core processors and _Gigabytes_ of RAM for so cheap? People who use an OS that does not need all that (Ubuntu, for instance) can literally have a system that is four times as powerful as they need, for the same adjusted cost of what a regular system would have cost only three years ago.