Bill Gates to step down and Robert Scoble leaves Microsoft

What a double dose of Microsoft news today! I read from a contact of mine on MSN Messenger that Bill Gates was to step down from Microsoft. Naturally, I was like huh? Really, can this be? So, I went to do a search on Gates step down Microsoft in Google and lone and behold it was true. But Bill is not stepping down now, he's going to reverse his full-time role at Microsoft to part time and make working with his charity foundation become his full-time business in July 2008. Ray Ozzie will become the chief software architect to take over from Bill. There's a video that shows Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates talking about this transition in a very intimate one on one setting that was shot in Microsoft on Channel 9. It's not very often that you see two big executives talking in this kind of intimate setting, no fancy elaborate lighting or studio, just sitting on a couch, especially with Microsoft. Usually Bill is talking on a podium. It's refreshing to hear the both of them talk about the changes at Microsoft. Bill doesn't seem to be looking at the camera, he seems to be shying away and doesn't seem to exert much energy like he kind of does when he gives speeches. Many people have commented to say that it's good that Bill is using his wealth to devote full time to his charity foundation and it is good for humanity. Other people say that Microsoft will not be the same with Gates and that this shows that Microsoft is really in trouble and not invincible as everyone seems they are. Robert Scoble writes about Gates leaving on his blog.

I just found out apparently Jeff Sandquist who is Robert Scoble's boss did the video of Ballmer and Gates. There's also a webcast of the press release but I can't see the video. Maybe there are too many hits to the site. Update: I am now listening and viewing the press release video.

And speaking of Robert Scoble, in a double whammy, Scoble is leaving Microsoft to become vice-president at a startup Silicon Valley firm called PodTech. It actually started the past weekend where Scoble did mention that he was leaving Microsoft to join PodTech. People in the blogosphere are wondering why Scoble would be leaving a great company to another company. Is there something inside Microsoft that would cause Scoble to leave? Scoble created the Channel 9 web site and the human voice of Microsoft. Lots of people are wondering maybe Scoble got too critical of Microsoft so Microsoft sacked him. However, from Scoble himself, he's said that he had all the freedom to meet with Microsoft competitors and to do things that companies would probably not let him do. I just found out that there was may have been some hints that Scoble was going to leave Microsoft, as I've read from the Naked Conversations blog. If it wasn't for Robert Scoble, Microsoft probably wouldn't embrace blogging. In fact, Gates has noted that after Scoble leaves, there are no plans to shut down blogging at Microsoft but to increase use of blogging.

So, it seems that Microsoft is evolving. People may think that Microsoft is going down because of these announcements. In my view, it seems disappointing that Scoble is leaving and that Gates is stepping down after July 2008, but the company needs to evolve. In fact, perhaps Microsoft may become better because then the public may change and not view Microsoft as such an evil company and empire. I think that this has started to change from blogging. Microsoft is a dynamic company and a very bright company. And the Microsoft employees you speak with are just like you and me, like I witnessed at the BayCHI dinner where I met 2 Microsoft Hotmail employees.

This is one of my longer blog posts, but today is a very important event in Microsoft's history that will probably be written down in the books. After hearing the press release video, Microsoft iterated that nothing is going to change, just only a shift in the leadership, but the innovation will remain there, the high energy and productivity won't change. Is this true? What do people think?