Gates Close On An Era: Microsoft Chairman Set To Retire

A journey that started with a hunch 33 years back is set to finally come to an end, as Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. looks to end his tenure as the company’s chairman Friday.

Gates has come a long way indeed, from being a Harvard dropout to being the founder of Microsoft. He has single-handedly changed the way we use the PC, and in the process ended up with the biggest software corporate in the world.

From the time he started the company in 1975 till today, when he is officially set to retire, he has managed to bring the PC into the lives of all of us. A majority of the computers in the world now run on operating systems developed by Microsoft, with some sources saying the number could be as high as 90%.

Speaking about Gates and his contribution to the software industry, tech analyst Rob Enderle said, “He’s built a company that is by any measure the most powerful technology company in the world today.”

While officially retiring from the company, Gates will continue to have some form of connection with his company, functioning as non-executive chairman and spending at least a day each week at the Microsoft office. Three of Microsoft’s senior staff will fill in for him in his chief software architect role.

At 52, Gates still has a lot left in him and many have been wondering what his next move will be. He has plans to give most of his time to the richest charity in the world, the $38 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Started with the objectives of bringing about betterment in health care globally and helping the world end extreme poverty, the foundation is doing extremely good work and is slated to grow in terms of endowments as Gates along with Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world currently, pump large portions of their personal fortune into it.

While Microsoft has said there would not be any public events to mark Gates retirement and the subsequent way forward for the company, there are a few things it plans to do internally. Included in the current plans is a video that is a spoof on his last day.

The video includes appearances by a number of celebrities, including actor Mathew McConaughey, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Al Gore, Jon Stewart, and many others.

It is definitely going to be hard to think of Microsoft without Bill Gates. But analysts believe that the company will thrive even in the post-Gates period. The company currently is valued at approximately at a whopping $260 billion dollars and has a total staff of 78,000 people across 103 nations.

Speaking about Microsoft’s chances post-Gates, Rob Helm of Directions, a research company said, “'I've seen (Microsoft) bat away one mortal threat after another - and I see no reason to believe that Google's turn will not come, too. Bill has been there so long he has lots of 'Baby Bills' that represent the same culture: very smart, very aggressive and focused on meeting competition head on.”