Microsoft Announces Plans for July 2008 Transition for Bill Gates. Working full time at Microsoft through June 2008, Gates then will continue as chairman and advisor while increasing Foundation efforts Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie to assume expanded roles.
Microsoft Corp. today announced that effective July 2008 Bill Gates, chairman, will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company announced a two-year transition process to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates daily responsibilities, and said that after July 2008 Gates would continue to serve as the companys chairman and an advisor on key development projects.
The company announced that Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately assume the title of chief software architect and begin working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities, to ensure a smooth transition. Similarly, Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer and will work closely with Gates to assume his responsibility for the companys research and incubation efforts Mundie also will partner with general counsel Brad Smith to guide Microsofts intellectual property and technology policy efforts.
In September 2005 Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer organized the company into three divisions under presidents Jim Allchin, Kevin Johnson, Robbie Bach and Jeff Raikes, who were given much greater responsibility for product development and strategy decisions within their respective businesses. In August 2005 the company appointed Kevin Turner as chief operating officer.
Microsoft has been steadily expanding its senior leadership in recent years, and that todays announcement continues a transition process that has been underway for several years. In January 2000, Gates assumed the role of chief software architect and Ballmer assumed the role of CEO, responsible for all day-to-day operations and company business strategy.
Ozzie, 50, worked on the first electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc, in the early 1980s, then joined Lotus Development Corp. in 1983 to develop Lotus Symphony, an MS-DOS-based integrated software management product that combined word processing, spreadsheet, business graphics, data management and communications capabilities. In 1984, Ozzie formed Iris Associates Inc. to develop Lotus Notes. In 1997 Ozzie founded Groove Networks, where he developed Groove Virtual Office. Microsoft acquired Groove Networks in April 2005 and named Ozzie chief technical officer.
Mundie, 56, joined Microsoft in 1992 to create and run the Consumer Platforms Division, which was responsible for developing non-PC platform and service offerings including the Microsoft Windows CE operating system software for handheld PCs, Pocket PCs and Auto PCs and early telephony products. Mundie also started Microsofts digital TV efforts and acquired and managed the WebTV Networks Inc. subsidiary. Mundie is also the original champion of the Trustworthy Computing Initiative at Microsoft, which has influenced Microsofts software development strategy. His current responsibilities also include global technology policy and a variety of technical and business incubation activities.
Ozzie and Mundie will continue to report to Gates. At an appropriate time during the two-year transition period, they will shift to reporting to Ballmer.
Gates, 50, started Microsoft in 1975 with childhood friend Paul Allen. He took Microsoft public in 1986 and was the companys chairman and CEO until 2000, when Ballmer took over as CEO. For the past six years Gates has focused on Microsofts software development as the companys chairman and chief software architect. In 2000, with his wife, he formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose assets now are 29.1 billion.
[.....Nah, better not....:-) ---Ed].
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Taken from Information Security Bulletin.