So long .. Bill Gates

Bill Gates says so long to Microsoft

I have the honour of attending the farewell of two greats of computing . Bill gates and Andy Grove. I was there in flesh and blood when Andy and Bill got a thunderous farewell from the employees of Intel and Microsoft respectively during the annual sales conferences of these companies in 2005 and 2007. Officialy Bill stepped down on 29th June as the Chairman. here is a quick snap shot of the event on 29th.


--- Sachin

Bill Gates and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer both fought back tears as they concluded a farewell event for the Microsoft co-founder on the company's Redmond campus this morning. Ballmer presented Gates with a bound scrapbook of photos and memories -- acknowledging that no mere parting gift could do justice to the moment. Then Gates addressed Microsoft's employees for the last time in his full-time role. Here's what he said.

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Microsoft hold a town hall meeting in Redmond to send Bill Gates off into the new era of his life. It was clearly a big moment for people at the company -- including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, More than 800 employees were present in a big conference room, and more will be watching on a webcast.



Notes and quotes from the event:

Gates on Microsoft's growth: The idea isn't to be big, but to be lean and agile, while still in a position to tackle tough challenges: "I don't think we'll double (in size) again, but you know, I've been wrong before."

In Microsoft's early days, Gates explained, one reason to bring Ballmer aboard was to help with recruiting: "I hired my friends, which was a small set, and that wasn't going to get us there," he said, to laughter.

Asked about his biggest mistake, Gates said the key thing in software is to accurately anticipate new bends in the road. He said Microsoft was ahead of the curve in areas like the graphical user interface, but he also acknowledged that it has been behind in other areas, such as Internet search and advertising: "When we miss a big change and we don't get great people on it, that is the most dangerous thing for us," Gates said. "It's happened many times. It's OK, but the less the better."

Gates said he has been asked how he can leave when Microsoft is facing such big challenges: "Well, there's always intense competition. I think the company is stronger today than it's ever been," Gates said. "That's very clear to me. The depth of IQ in this company is phenomenal. Now, we don't always get it to add up. We get a tiny bit of subtraction sometimes, and that's one of our challenges."

Gates: "To steal a sentence from Steve: I love this company."

Ballmer cited the challenges Microsoft and Gates have tackled in the past in a manner that seemed designed to embolden the company's employees for the ones they're facing now:
"It's actually more fun to come from behind. For us, that's more fun. That's when you really surprise people. It's actually harder. And a lot of the people who work for the company now have never done it, but we had to do it in some of those cases. We went toe-to-toe with the biggest, most powerful computer company in the world ... Windows vs. OS/2. And we beat 'em. (Applause.) When we look at the challenges that we have today, we'll have our professional accomplishments. And we'll have a chance to come from behind, and we'll have a chance to surprise people -- and we'll have a chance to do it all over again."