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Bill Gates Doesn't Work At Microsoft Anymore
itwbennett writes "The recent Fortune article on Bill Gates' post-Microsoft life made one thing very clear to blogger Steven Vaughan-Nichols: 'Bill Gates was, and still is, the face of Microsoft. What Microsoft doesn't want you to know though is that Gates has almost nothing to do with the company anymore.' The fact is that Microsoft doesn't want to draw attention to Gates' absence because the company 'has been tanking in recent years,' says Vaughan-Nichols. 'While Microsoft's last quarter was far better than it was a year ago, thanks largely to Windows 7 finally picking up steam, neither Microsoft's growth nor its profits are what they were like when Gates was at the helm.'"
Microsoft is in such a bad shape, it would be good for them if people thought Bill Gates still worked there :-)
Isn't he still a shareholder with +50% of the shares, so he essentially still has a say anyways? I thought I heard that somewhere, but I might be mistaken. Board of directors or something. Point is, Microsoft is not without Bill's Guidance, he simply isn't dealing with the hassles that come with being CEO.
Microsoft's tanking* is completely independent of Bill's situation. They laid this path before them long long ago. You might even say it's Bill's fault they're in this mess.
*As a humorous anecdote, Tanks are a very important component to group play. I like to think of Microsoft as that big guy in the heavy armor who takes all the hits and soaks up all the damage, because it doesn't mean much to him anyways. I also think of Apple as the DPS, and if they keep critting too much with all their successful products, they'll eventually pull Aggro and end up getting all the criticism Microsoft recieves. And I think of *nix as a good healer, silently standing far away from everyone, keeping everything running nominally with their superior networking capabilities and low resource requirements. See? You can relate anything to World of Warcraft. I dare you to come up with something I can't.
Or Ballmer in a monkey suit?
Or Ballmer in a monkey suit and as a borg assimilating a chair?
... leave, let the company tank, then make a triumphant return! :-D
Maybe, maybe not. Economists are still divided on that, many are predicting a double-dip too. I believe the Regan said
A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.
A depression is when you lose yours
A recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
Assuming this to be true, there are a few possibilities
1) Recovery is not possible since JC has no job to lose
2) BO is the functional equivalent and recovery is when BO loses his job
3) Recovery is futile (after all this is an article re: Bill Gates)
Of course, the assumption may be flawed.
combine new and old markets and double-penetrate them both?
Giggity!