Thanks for the Memories Bill

Today marks the transition for two high profile entities: Bill Gates, and Microsoft.  Bill Gates will leave the Microsoft campus today for the last time as a full-time employee.  He is moving on, with the noble goal of bringing vaccines to third world countries, via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bill is not totally gone, as he is still the Chairman of the company, and he will still put in about a day’s worth of work each week from home, but it will be strange to think about a Microsoft that will not have Bill Gates there day to day.

This is a man that has dedicated himself to a company, and an industry for most of his life, going back to the age of 15.  There have been successes along the way, like Windows, Office and a little side project called the Xbox.  There have also been some failures, like favorite whipping boy Microsoft Bob, Windows Millenium, and for some Vista might even be in that category.  But one thing is for certain, there will be a void at Microsoft.  This is not a knock against all the talented people at Microsoft, but Bill Gates has become an icon, almost bigger in identity than Microsoft, and his departure leaves the company looking for someone to replace that space.  Steve Ballmer is a great guy and can be larger than life, but he will never be Bill Gates, because he is not a technical guy, a geek shall we say.  Microsoft will go on, and will continue to make billions, but it will just seem to have less of a public face, without Bill at the helm. 

Good luck Bill, and enjoy the extra Bridge games.  Maybe I will run into you some time and actually learn how to play the game.