Looking back at Gates Video

Looking back at Gates Video Transcript

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>> I'm Kara Suboy, cnetnews.com. Senior writer Ina Freed is here to discuss Bill Gates' departure from Microsoft. And Ina, he has really been the face of this company for as long as it's been a household name. What does it mean for him to be leaving?

>> Well he has. And he's not leaving totally, he will still be chairman, he'll still be working part time at Microsoft. But one of the big differences is he's not gonna be around every day. But it also means something different publicly. You know, Bill Gates is the face of Microsoft. [ music ] ^M00:00:37

>> Two years from today, starting July, 2008, I will reorder my personal priorities. Today I'm working full time for Microsoft, and part time for the Gates Foundation. Starting two years from now, I will shift to work full time at the foundation, and part time at Microsoft as chairman, and as a senior technical advisor.

>> Please welcome chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates. [ music ] ^M00:01:06

>> That's right. I've got one of the Guitar Hero Three gods himself, Slash from Velvet Revolver. [ applause ] [ music ] ^M00:01:25

>> Our original vision was a computer on every desk, and now we talked about even having a computer in every desk.

>> Moving forward he is going to be splitting his time, and obviously Steve Ballmer will be taking over most of the day to day duties of Microsoft. How do you expect this company to really move forward from here without him?

>> Well I think the areas he's gonna be most missed are not necessarily the business side. I mean Steve Ballmer's been CEO for several years now. It's on the technical side, being sort of the visionary, which he'll still have a role in but he won't be there day to day in all the meetings. I think that task will fall to folks like Craig Mundy and Ray Ozzy. And Ozzy in particular is sort of the founder of this Cloud computing idea within Microsoft. And he's responsible for making sure that you know, Microsoft you know, world where a lot of data exists not on computers, but out there over the internet. He's the one who's gonna be responsible for making that come to be.

>> Windows really succeeded because we have a greater breadth of software available on Windows. And now when we think Windows, we think Windows Live, we think Windows on the phone, and so it's really that platform. We have to keep it as the leading platform. We obviously have a lot of strengths, our development tools, our strengths in the business area. We're doing some breakthrough work on the Cloud, [inaudible] user interface, and the software responds, and so anywhere you touch the cameras you know, [inaudible] a hand. And so you can put lots of things on the surface here. And so it's easy to write different applications that run in this environment. So even universities are gonna have to look at kind of a digital environment as reordering things, just like companies have had to reinvent themselves and think about new things as the digital age has come along. Now there's an opportunity here to make education, which is super, super important, far more effective than it is today.

>> Had a chance to talk with a lot of tech leaders from the early days of the PC. And you know, one of the things that several people remarked on is just how much his vision has continued to just broaden. You know, when he reaches a goal, by that point he's already set a new goal. So it was a computer on every desk, you know, they've basically reached that in the developed world. So now it's you know, reaching the developing world, it's second PCs, it's you know, putting computers into furniture.

>> The internet connected up to the Windows PC and other devices is taking over things that would have been done without it before. Over 40% of U.S. homes now have multiple personal computers. And if you look at young people, the new generation, they actually spend more time on their Windows PC than they spend watching TV.

>> The world has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on me. In reality, Microsoft has always had an unbelievable depth and breadth of technical talent. It starts with the senior executives, but it extends to our technical fellows, our distinguished engineers, our researchers around the world, and the thousands of awesome technical people throughout our product groups. Our technical talent is the best in the world.

>> So June twenty seventh, 2008 is Bill Gates' final day with Microsoft, is that correct?

>> As a full time employee.

>> As a full time employee. Thank you so much, Ina, for your time. Ina Freed, I'm Kara Suboy, cnetnews.com. ^M00:04:52 [ music ]