RSSGates says retirement from Microsoft means he'll still be around
By Nate Mook | Published May 28, 2008, 1:33 AM
Bill Gates is scheduled to retire from Microsoft on July 1, shifting his efforts over to his namesake foundation. But Wednesday night at the Wall Street Journal's D conference, Gates clarified what he means by "retirement."
In an informal question-and-answer session before his keynote with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during which the Windows 7 multi-touch interface was briefly demoed, Chairman Bill Gates said that he'll continue to spend 20 percent of his time on Microsoft projects. The remaining 80 percent of his time will be dedicated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- a swap from the 20 percent he devotes currently.
According to CNET's Dan Farber, who first reported on the Q&A, Gates will continue to work some of the week from his office on the Microsoft campus, and spend time on the next version of Office and natural interfaces such as voice and touch.
Gates' primary focus during his 20% Microsoft time, however, will be on search. Even without Yahoo, the Microsoft chairman says his company will build the best search -- a bold claim considering the problems Microsoft has encountered even holding steady in a market dominated by Google.
Another pet project of Gates for his 20% time? He wants to completely map out the African continent.
Gates mapping Africa. I guess he underestimates the knowledge involved in mapping, what does he want to do with it. Navigation maybe? That involves a lot of 'local' work.
Easier for him is to close an alliance with a mapping company such as Navteq or AND Automotive Navigation Data.
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How is mapping out the African continent anything to do with Microsoft as a commercial company?
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Probably nothing. I don't think Nate intended to imply a link.
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Microsoft has the resources to help this be accomplished.
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Only possible link I could see would be if it were regarding their local.live.com mapping site...
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Umm a little thing called Live Maps/Virtual Earth? Maybe?
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maybe because it's something that needs to be done...look it up
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Well, thats kinda logical considering he built one of the worlds largest corporations basically from garage startup. Who wouldn't want to stick around something like this?
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