Bill Gates：元素週期表 Einsteinium... Polonium ... “Source Code,” 計劃捐出「絕大部分」財產。BAR CODEs...科技 名人父母 新時代圖示法......素週期表 Einsteinium... Polonium ... Oliver Sacks 生日。“Source Code,” 計劃捐出「絕大部分」財產。BAR CODEs...科技 名人父母 Jeff Bezos (3)：母親； 新時代圖示法...... said he plans to give away "the vast majority" of his fortune.成長歷程回憶錄首部曲。, Steve Ballmer. Clayton M. Christensen1952!2020《你要如何衡量你的人生？How will you measure your life?》克雷頓．克里斯汀生

全球半導體版圖 一目了然

Mechanical Engineering World  · 

A stunning wall-mounted periodic table featuring all 118 elements in a visually striking arrangement is a proud highlight of Bill Gates' office. More than just a scientific tool, this masterpiece reflects Gates' passion for research and the endless possibilities unlocked by new discoveries.

What truly makes this periodic table unique is its creative representations of certain elements. For instance, Einsteinium is illustrated with an image of Einstein, while Polonium is symbolized by Poland's coat of arms. These artistic details not only enhance its aesthetic appeal but also serve an educational purpose.

This display showcases Gates' deep appreciation for chemistry and the fundamental building blocks of our universe. It stands as a reminder of how one scientific breakthrough often leads to another.

機械工程世界·追踪 2天 · 牆上掛著一張令人驚嘆的元素週期表，以引人注目的視覺排列方式列出了全部 118 種元素，成為比爾蓋茲辦公室的一大亮點。這項傑作不僅僅是一個科學工具，還體現了蓋茲對研究的熱情以及新發現所開啟的無限可能性。 這個元素週期表的真正獨特之處在於它對某些元素的創造性表示。例如，鑀以愛因斯坦的圖像來表示，而釙則以波蘭國徽來表示。這些藝術細節不僅增強了它的美感，而且還具有教育意義。 這次展覽展示了蓋茲對化學和宇宙基本組成部分的深刻理解。它提醒我們，一個科學突破往往會導致另一個科學突破。 #化學 #元素 #比爾蓋茲 #微軟 #探索

#Chemistry #Elements #BillGates #Microsoft #Explore

“Source Code,” the first of three planned memoirs by Bill Gates, might end up being the most personal of them. The Microsoft founder discusses the book here:

washingtonpost.com

Why Bill Gates buried a headline in his memoir’s epilogue

The making of Bill Gates. bbc

Bill Gates said he plans to give away "the vast majority" of his fortune.

比爾蓋茲的成長歷程。英國廣播公司

比爾蓋茲表示，他計劃捐出「絕大部分」財產。

Clayton Magleby Christensen was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of "disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. Wikipedia
Born: April 6, 1952, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Died: January 23, 2020 (age 67 years), Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Education: Harvard University, Brigham Young University · See more
Children: Matthew Christensen, Ann Christensen, Spencer Q. Christensen
Spouse: Christine Christensen
Parents: Verda Mae Christensen, Robert M. Christensen




你要如何衡量你的人生？
《你要如何衡量你的人生？How will you measure your life?》克雷頓．克里斯汀生, 詹姆斯．歐沃斯, 凱倫．狄倫Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, Karen Dillon著 廖月娟譯2024/01/12天下文化出版。
1. 作者簡介
克雷頓．克里斯汀生，1952年出生於美國猶他州鹽湖城，是虔誠的摩門教徒。他曾在楊百翰大學和牛津大學攻讀經濟學並取得碩士學位，後來又進入哈佛大學商學院攻讀企管碩士及博士學位。1992年起，即在哈佛大學商學院擔任教授，研究與教學興趣主要在技術創新、發展組織能力，以及為新科技發掘新市場。他曾任波士頓顧問集團（BCG）顧問，也陸續創立了陶瓷系統工程公司（CPS）和創見研究所（Innosight）等四家公司。他曾五度榮獲「麥肯錫最佳論文獎」；著有七本書。2011年被Thinkers50選為「當代50名最具影響力的商業思想家」之一。
詹姆斯．歐沃斯，澳洲人，畢業於澳洲國立大學及哈佛大學商學院，並取得貝克學者（Baker Scholar）之銜。曾任職於博斯顧問公司（Booz &Company）及蘋果公司。
凱倫．狄倫，畢業於康乃爾大學、西北大學新聞所，曾任《哈佛商業評論》總編輯。2011年時被社會企業Ashoka評選為「全球最具影響力及啟發性」的女性。

2. 譯者簡介

廖月娟，1966年生，美國西雅圖華盛頓大學比較文學碩士。曾榮獲誠品好讀報告2006年度最佳翻譯人、2007年金鼎獎最佳翻譯人獎、2008年吳大猷科普翻譯銀籤獎，主要譯作為《旁觀者：管理大師杜拉克回憶錄》、《第五項修練III：變革之舞》、《槍炮、病菌與鋼鐵》、《大崩壞》、《狼廳》、《雅各的千秋之年》、《賈伯斯傳》等。

3. 內容簡介

第一本將企業管理的研究成果套用在人生規劃上的書！特別收錄克里斯汀生訪談，剖析「人生三問」精義

　以破壞式創新理論聞名的克里斯汀生，看到許多哈佛商學院的同學向命運一點一滴地妥協：接受不喜歡的工作、犧牲家庭生活，甚至做出有違倫理的決定。為什麼？他們原本才智過人、為人正派、目標遠大，他們的人生究竟哪裡出了差錯？

　因此，克里斯汀生在學期最後安排了他認為最重要的一堂課，用企業理論討論三個問題：

＊如何才能樂在工作？

＊如何才能擁有圓滿的人生？

＊做選擇時，如何秉持誠正的原則？

　「我真誠地希望本書能讓你勇於面對人生的驚濤駭浪，不要隨波逐流，以免漸漸遠離原則和理想，最後連自己都不認識自己。」──克里斯汀生

增修版新增內容：

(1)克里斯汀生新序「勇於面對人生的驚濤駭浪」

(2)《富比士》專訪文章「 握緊船槳，航向有意義的人生」

4. 各界推薦

　這本書要比柯維的《與成功有約》更好讀。作者一方面不斷挑戰我們的思考，另一方面又為我們指點迷津。本書可謂當彼得．杜拉克遇上米奇．艾爾邦，神奇地將勵志書和企管經營書合為一體。──《商業週刊》（Business Week）

　2012年最令人期待的書〈第一名〉。──美國CNBC新聞台

這不只是一本勵志書。作者不是像強迫餵食般，告訴讀者要如何改善自己的人生，而是提供寶貴的工具，讓人自行設定有意義的人生旅程。──《金融時報》（Financial Times）

　本書是二十一世紀個人哲學力作。──《富比士》（Forbes）

　如果你推薦這本書給家人和朋友，即使他們不從商，也會大大感謝你。──《哈佛商業評論》（Harvard Business Review）

　本書比商學院的教科書更重要。──《赫芬頓郵報》（Huffington Post）

　本書可謂工作人的心靈雞湯，對剛開始踏上生涯的年輕人特別有幫助。然而，如果你想要過著有意義的人生，也能從這本書得到不少啟發。──《出版家週刊》（Publishers Weekly）

　克里斯汀生讓我們得以洞視成長和創新的秘訣。──安東尼〈Scott Anthony〉／創見研究所（Innosight Institute）亞洲營運部部長

5. 目錄

各界推薦

增修版序 勇於面對人生的驚濤駭浪/克雷頓．克里斯汀生

第一版序 人生三問/克雷頓．克里斯汀生

前言 展翅高飛

Part1發現生涯之樂

01如何讓你的熱情燃燒

02計畫與變化

03策略的試金石

Part2圓滿的人際關係

04時鐘滴答響

05一杯奶昔的任務

06席瑟斯之船

07經驗學校

08一隻看不見的手

Part3遠離監獄

09就這麼一次

結語 你拿什麼衡量人生

致謝 用理論預測人生情節/克雷頓．克里斯汀生

致謝 謝謝你改變我對世界的看法/詹姆斯．歐沃斯

致謝 此後，我沒做出任何讓自己後悔的決定/凱倫．狄倫

《富比士》專訪 握緊船槳，航向有意義的人生/丹・修貝爾

序

〈勇於面對人生的驚濤駭浪〉

　我常跟人說，我很遺憾他們不能擁有像我這樣的工作。我不但能夠得天下英才而教之，還能研究對我而言重要的問題。雖然我從未想要舉世聞名，但我研究的一個概念，也就是破壞式創新，在全世界已廣為人知，引發很多的討論，也有許多人拿來應用。這個理論描述一種產品或服務引進市場底層之後，接著無情地顛覆市場，最後取代產業本來的龍頭老大。

　我因為這個理論而出名，因此很多人以為這就是我在哈佛商學院教授的最重要的一課。其實不然。我認為，最重要的一課該是每學期最後一堂課。

　在這堂課上，我請學生好好思考他們即將在人生做出的選擇：如何才能樂在工作？如何才能擁有圓滿的人生？以及在做選擇之時，如何秉持誠正的原則？或許你沒想到哈佛教授要你思考這些問題，然而這些問題的確需要計劃、策略與個人資源的謹慎使用。

　不妥協的人生

　我不知看過多少人走上了妥協的不歸路。你因為情勢所迫，不由得一點一滴地妥協，但這樣的妥協會侵蝕你的身心。我看過很多人接受了自己不喜歡的工作，為了追求名利，愈來愈無視家人和私人生活，最後甚至做出有違倫理的決定──以前，他們根本無法想像自己會這麼做。

　人生的各個層面都必須依循原則，不只是有關工作或業務的決定。自從本書出版後，我得到極多的迴響，本書的共同作者也告訴我這本書對他們的衝擊。有些人真的依據本書的理念，徹頭徹尾改變自己的私人和工作生活。

　我在搭飛機就常碰到陌生人興高采烈地跟我分享他們的體驗──如何把書中理念付諸實踐，進而從工作和家庭生活找到更大的滿足和快樂。他們的分享也讓我感到無比的欣慰。

　我真誠地希望本書能讓你勇於面對人生的驚濤駭浪，不要隨波逐流，以免漸漸遠離自己的原則和理想，最後連自己都不認識自己。坦白說，我這一生也遇見不少次強風巨浪，眼看著就要偏離自己設定的航道。但我下定決心，不管發生什麼，我都得咬緊牙關、挺過去，不改初衷。人生免不了考驗，然而我還是我，不會對這些挫折低頭，因此成為輸家。我也希望你能這樣。決定你要如何衡量自己的人生之後，就好好過自己的生活，以達成你的人生目標。

　　摘自《你要如何衡量你的人生？哈佛商學院最重要的一堂課》增修版序

　人生三問

　我寫這本書的初衷，是想把我在企業管理的研究成果套用在人生規劃上，幫讀者創造圓滿的人生策略。我在「如何建立成功的長青企業」這門課中，和學生一起研究經營管理的理論，探討管理工作的各個層面。這些理論闡述事情的原因和為什麼，學生了解之後，我們就把這些理論當作透鏡來檢視個案。我們從每一個理論來檢視一家公司過去何以會出現哪些問題或機會，並預測這家公司將來可能會遭遇的情況，再用同樣的理論來預測經理人應該採取什麼行動。

　學生藉由這種討論方式，了解為何一個扎實的理論可以用來解釋各個組織層級的過去和未來：大者如整個產業、一家公司，小者如公司裡的一個單位，或是單位中的小組。

　多年來，在學期末的最後一堂課，我總會描述我在商學院的同班同學有何遭遇，接著進一步討論組織中最基本的單位，也就是個人。透過這樣的討論，我們不只用企業做為個案，也開始探討自己的人生。

　我年復一年帶領學生進行這樣的討論。我們探討的，不是希望未來會如何，而是探究課堂上學到的理論，是否可以用來預測將來會如何，包括什麼決定和行動會影響到我們的未來。多年來，我已進行過無數次這樣的討論，我的心得當然比任何一個學生來得多。為了公平起見，我想應該把我的了悟拿出來和大家分享。

　在課堂上討論時，我會把我們研究的理論寫在黑板上，然後在旁邊寫下三個簡單的問題：

* 如何知道我的工作生涯可以成功、快樂？

* 如何知道我與配偶、兒女及與朋友的關係可以成為快樂的泉源？

* 如何知道我這一生會堅守原則，以免除牢獄之災？

　這些問題聽起來很簡單，但我的同學當中很少人問這樣的問題，或許他們也曾思考過這些人生問題，卻已經記不得自己學到了什麼。

　這麼多年下來，我一再發現課堂上討論的這些理論，不但可用來解釋企業的問題，也可用以審視人生的重要課題。我將在本書把我和學生發現的洞見和各位讀者分享。

　　* * *

　二○一○年春天，在學期結束時，我不只在最後一堂課和學生討論人生，更受邀對哈佛商學院全體畢業生演講。這一年，有點不同於往年。站在講台上的我，因為化學治療的關係，頭髮幾乎掉光了。我向學生解釋說，我得了濾泡性淋巴癌，我父親即因此過世了。然而，我很感謝上帝給我這個機會，讓我還能站在台上，講述我如何將所學的理論應用在自己的人生。

　我提到人生最重要的事。以我個人來說，雖然正面對癌症這種重大疾病的挑戰，但每一個人、每一天都應該想想什麼是人生最重要的目標。那天，與學生分享我的想法，讓他們好好思索人生的方向，對我而言，實在是非常難得的經驗。

　但我希望不只那天在哈佛商學院柏頓廳聽演講的畢業班學生知道我的想法，更希望廣大的讀者可以受益。於是我請兩個人來幫忙：一位是歐沃斯（James Allworth），那學期他是我課堂上的學生，也聽了我對畢業生的演講；另一位則是《哈佛商業評論》的總編輯狄倫（Karen Dillon）。這兩位都對我的主題深感興趣。

　我們來自老、中、青三代，有著完全不同的信仰和人生。歐沃斯最近才從哈佛商學院畢業，是個無神論者。我已升格當祖父，是虔誠的教徒，做過企管顧問，也曾創業，之後則一直在哈佛商學院任教。狄倫有兩個女兒，有二十年的編輯資歷。

　這本書是我們三人同心協力完成的。我們希望本書提出的理論能幫助你檢視自己的人生，並讓自己過得更好。雖然我們用第一人稱來述說，也就是用我的聲音，就像我在對我的學生和我的孩子講述一樣，但歐沃斯和狄倫確實是本書的共同作者。

　人生有很多問題既複雜又困難，我不敢保證本書可提供簡單的解答，畢竟每個人的人生都不同，你必須自己努力去找答案。我花了幾十年的時間才徹底了解自己的人生，這卻是我人生最值得做的一件事。我衷心希望本書提出的理論能幫助你，讓你豁然開朗，知道人生的路要怎麼走下去，並能果決地回答這個問題：「你要如何衡量你的人生？」

※摘自《你要如何衡量你的人生？哈佛商學院最重要的一堂課》第一版序

所有心情：

7阮約翰和其他6人

BBC World 

Service


Bill Gates would take songs by David Bowie, Willie Nelson and Jimi Hendrix to his desert island. What tracks would you take?



Bill Gates, Desert Island Discs - BBC World Service
Bill Gates tells presenter Kirsty Young what 8 tracks, book and luxury he’d want to take with him on a desert island.

BBC.IN

Updated August 23, 2013, 8:01 p.m. ET
Steve Ballmer's Mixed Legacy
Gates's Successor Helped Build Behemoth, but Missteps Leave Microsoft Vulnerable




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 Getty Images

Under CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft has endured years of investor criticism as the rise of mobile devices and Internet services eroded the influence of the personal computer-era kingpin. Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT +7.29% Steve Ballmer tried new operating systems, new gadgets and new management structures. But the times caught up with a man who helped build one of the greatest companies of the 20th century.

Microsoft said CEO Steve Ballmer will retire after the naming of a successor within the next 12 months. But who will fill the shoes of the longtime chief of the software giant? Marcelo Prince has details. Photo: AP.

Mr. Ballmer's surprise retirement announcement Friday follows years of criticism about the waning growth and stagnant stock price of Microsoft, a force in the personal-computer era whose power was once so great that U.S. regulators sought to break up the company.
PC sales—the lifeblood of Microsoft's business—are on a steady decline. Business and casual users alike are switching to devices and services offered by Apple Inc. AAPL -0.39% and Google Inc. GOOG -0.40%
Investors cheered the news, pushing Microsoft shares up 7%, or $2.36, to $34.75, in 4 p.m. trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Microsoft's offerings to customers "are downright confusing," said Daniel Gasparro, an IT consultant who recently managed Microsoft software purchases for clients including Washington, D.C. law firm Patton Boggs LLP. "When you're spread too thin, you're not good at anything."
Mr. Ballmer, who took the reins from Chairman Bill Gates in January 2000, has responded to the changes by recently overhauling the company's Windows software to be used with touch commands and introducing a Microsoft-designed tablet computer called Surface.

CEO's Memo: 'Moving Forward'

"This is an emotional and difficult thing for me to do. I take this step in the best interests of the company I love; it is the thing outside of my family and closest friends that matters to me most." Read the full memo.

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Timeline: Microsoft Under Ballmer

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Potential CEO Candidates

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More broadly, Mr. Ballmer has attempted in the past year to remake the company's overarching strategy to become a provider of devices and services rather than emphasizing software sales. A management structure announced in July that abandons autonomous product groups is expected to speed the transition.
But the shifts haven't yet helped reignite the company's growth, though its longtime businesses continue to produce healthy profits. Its stock hasn't shown significant gains since the crash following the Internet bubble, which had taken its share price to a high of $58.03.
In July, Microsoft booked a $900 million quarterly write-off for unsold Surface units, and reported revenue and net income that missed analyst expectations.
"There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time," said Mr. Ballmer said in a memo to Microsoft employees. Mr. Ballmer held about 4% of Microsoft as of its last proxy statement in October. That stake is worth more than $11.5 billion at the current share price.
He added that his "original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation," but said the company now needs a CEO who "will be here longer term for this new direction."

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Microsoft employees were floored by the news, according to people familiar with internal conversations. The announcement set off speculation akin to Kremlinology, as Microsoft employees read and reread Mr. Ballmer's internal memo for clues about why he is retiring and who might be next.
One person familiar with Microsoft's board deliberations said directors and Mr. Ballmer have been discussing for months when to reveal a succession plan. The decision was completed on Wednesday during a board conference call with Mr. Ballmer, the person close to the board said.
Some former Microsoft executives said the latest move appeared abrupt in view of the recent reorganization—since such a new corporate structure would ordinarily be dictated by a new CEO rather than the outgoing one.
Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura Securities, said Microsoft directors may have felt pressure from ValueAct Capital Management LP, a hedge fund that in April said it had accumulated a stake in the company worth $2 billion. The fund has been known for seeking board seats or asking for other changes at companies to try to raise stock prices.

Steve Ballmer's Hits and Misses

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Jeff Christensen/Reuters

Windows Mobile—April 2000

The person familiar with the board's discussions said ValueAct played no role in Mr. Ballmer's retirement. George Hamel, ValueAct's operating chief, didn't respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Microsoft's CEO search committee will be chaired by lead independent board director John Thompson, a longtime International Business Machines Corp. IBM +0.12% In prepared remarks, he said the board is committed to the transformation of Microsoft into a successful "devices and services" company.
Mr. Ballmer, a sales specialist with a booming voice, met Mr. Gates when they were students at Harvard University. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics and worked for two years at Procter & Gamble Co. PG +0.30% before joining Microsoft in 1980.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced he would be stepping. WSJ’s Spencer Ante discusses the Ballmer legacy and what could be next for Microsoft. Photo: AP.

The Redmond, Wash., company, first known for computer languages and then the DOS operating system, helped ignite an era of furious PC growth. It branched into software applications such as word processing and spreadsheets, and then a range of programs used to help run corporate back-office functions. After the Internet emerged in the 1990s, it became a dominant force in Web browser software and gradually built up online services.
Mr. Ballmer noted that Microsoft has grown from a $7.5 million company to nearly $78 billion in annual revenue since he joined, with its workforce expanding from just over 30 people to almost 100,000.
Along the way, Mr. Ballmer led several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. In July 1998, he was promoted to president, a role that gave him day-to-day responsibility for running Microsoft.
Mr. Ballmer had some successes during his tenure, including the building of Microsoft's Xbox videogame business, and such major acquisitions as its $8.5 billion acquisition of the Web communications service Skype. He failed in a hostile bid to acquire Yahoo Inc. YHOO +0.32% for $44.6 billion, a defeat now widely regarded as a good thing; Yahoo's market value currently stands at about $28 billion.
One optimist about Microsoft's future is George Colony, a longtime observer of the tech scene who is chairman and chief executive of Forrester Research. He argued that winning in the coming era of technology will require deep knowledge about software running on user devices, not just online services—which plays to Microsoft's strengths.
The company's next leader can't shy away from angering old partners and risking longtime sources of profits, Mr. Colony said, such as by continuing to make tablets in competition with companies that buy its software. "It needs someone who is not afraid to break connections with their old business model," Mr. Colony said.
Mr. Ballmer's missteps loom large. One of the biggest and costliest was a Windows version called Vista that Mr. Ballmer in a trade press interview Friday called his biggest regret. The successor Windows 7 version proved popular, but the touch-oriented version Windows 8 so far has failed to propel Microsoft into a major position in tablets.
In mobile phones, the story is similar. Mr. Ballmer, who in 2007 famously told USA Today that Apple's iPhone had "no chance" to get significant market share, hitched Microsoft's fortunes largely to onetime market leader Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +1.24% But its smartphone software has a minimal share of a market now largely dominated by Google's Android.
—Saabira Chaudhuri, Ian Sherr and Joann S. Lublin contributed to this article.

 

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Aug 23, 2013

Microsoft

Ballmer on His Departure, Success, Failure and the Future

Bloomberg

MicrosoftMSFT +7.29% surprised Wall Street and the technology world when it announced Friday that CEO Steve Ballmer would retire after 13 years at the helm. The news raises a lot of questions about what’s next for Microsoft, who is in line to succeed and just what is the 57-year-old Ballmer’s legacy.

The Seattle Times snagged an interview with Ballmer and with John Thompson, who is heading the board’s search for the next CEO. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, who has covered Microsoft for years, also spoke with Ballmer (after what she called a “20-year dry spell”).

Ballmer told the Seattle Times that he is retiring now because if waited until his youngest son went to college, as he had considered, that would put his departure smack in the middle of a big company transition. That echoes what he said in his memo to employees Friday. Ballmer told the Times his decision wasn’t prompted by pressure from shareholders, and he told ZDNet that it had nothing to do with the short term.

While Ballmer wasn’t named to the special committee that will look for the next CEO, he told the Times he will “have a voice” in the decision and that he isn’t shy. Thompson backed that up, saying he didn’t know how you find Microsoft’s CEO without getting his input.

The board does have a profile of what it wants in its next CEO, Thompson told the Times, though he didn’t provide any details or say whether there were any leading candidates — internal or external. He told ZDNet that Microsoft is “well down the path in the search.”

Ballmer told the Times he was proudest of his longevity with Microsoft, and the company’s growth over that period. He shrugged off the company’s stagnant stock price — “I’m not a stock price focused guy” — saying he cared more about products. On that front, he said the entire episode of the loathed Windows Vista operating system was his biggest disappointment.

Microsoft’s future, Ballmer told ZDNet, is about in delivering a great experience for the consumer spanning hardware and software. The company doesn’t want to just be an enterprise or business-customer company like IBMIBM +0.12%. His example was email. “If you’re going to be in e-mail, you’re going to be in e-mail. You can’t say, okay, I only want to be in enterprise e-mail,” he told ZDNet. (He used devices as an example, too. So, yes, Microsoft is sticking with hardware.) Thompson chimed in: the “consumerization” of IT is happening, and Microsoft is going to be involved in that.

Ballmer plans to stay in Seattle after his retires, he told the Times, but otherwise hasn’t made any plans yet.

 ******2008.6.27
讀者中可能不像我還記得Gates先生某次到台灣來
沒坐專機
"你以為我是誰? 英國女王嗎?"
之後 他身邊滿是保鑣
很少來台灣了...

The meaning of Bill Gates

Jun 26th 2008
From The Economist print edition

As his reign at Microsoft comes to an end, so does the era he dominated

Landov

WHEN Bill Gates helped to found Microsoft 33 years ago there was a company rule that no employees should work for a boss who wrote worse computer code than they did. Just five years later, with Microsoft choking on its own growth, Mr Gates hired a business manager, Steve Ballmer, who had cut his teeth at Procter & Gamble, which sells soap. The founder had chucked his coding rule out of the window.
In becoming the world’s richest man, Mr Gates’s unswerving self-belief has repeatedly been punctuated by that sort of pragmatism. But those qualities have never been on such public display as they were this week, when the outstanding businessman of his age stepped back from a life’s work.
As Microsoft’s non-executive chairman, Mr Gates will devote most of his efforts to his charitable foundation, where he will pit himself against malaria and poverty, rather than Google and the Department of Justice. To choose such formidable new foes in the middle of your life takes bags of self-belief, but it is also pragmatic—and a little poignant. Mr Gates has revelled in the day-to-day details of running his firm. To let it all go is to acknowledge that his best work at Microsoft is behind him. It is to accept that the innovator’s curse is to be transitory.

MS DOS and don’ts

As with many great innovations, Mr Gates’s vision has come to seem so obvious that it is hard to imagine the world any other way. Yet, early on, he grasped two things that were far from obvious at the time, and he grasped them more clearly and pursued them more fiercely than his rivals did at Commodore, MITS or even Apple.
The first was that computing could be a high-volume, low-margin business. Until Microsoft came along, the big money was in maintaining a select family of very grand mainframes. Mr Gates realised that falling hardware costs, combined with the negligible expense of making extra copies of standard software, would turn the computer business on its head. Personal computers could be “on every desk and in every home”. Profit would come from selling a lot of them cheaply, not servicing a few at a great price. And the company that won a large market share at the start would prevail later on.
Mr Gates also realised that making hardware and writing software could be stronger as separate businesses. Even as firms like Apple clung on to both the computer operating system and the hardware—just as mainframe companies had—Microsoft and Intel, which designed the PC’s microprocessors, blew computing’s business model apart. Hardware and software companies innovated in an ecosystem that the Wintel duopoly tightly controlled and—in spite of the bugs and crashes—used to reap vast economies of scale and profits. When mighty IBM unwittingly granted Microsoft the right to sell its PC operating system to other hardware firms, it did not see that it was creating legions of rivals for itself. Mr Gates did.
The technology industry likes to sneer at Microsoft as a follower. And it is true that the company has time and again bought in or imitated the technology of others. That very first PC operating system was based on someone else’s code. But Mr Gates’s invention was as a businessman. His genius was to understand what he needed and work out how to obtain it, however long it took. In an industry in which visionaries are often sniffy about anyone else’s ideas, the readiness to go elsewhere proved a devastating advantage.
And look at what happened when Mr Gates’s pragmatism failed him. Within Microsoft, they feared Bill for his relentless intellect, his grasp of detail and his brutal intolerance of anyone whom he thought “dumb”. But the legal system doesn’t do fear, and in a filmed deposition, when Microsoft was had up for being anti-competitive, the hectoring, irascible Mr Gates, rocking slightly in his chair, came across as spoilt and arrogant. It was a rare public airing of the sense of brainy entitlement that emboldened Mr Gates to get the world to yield to his will. On those rare occasions when Microsoft’s fortunes depended upon Mr Gates yielding to the world instead, the pragmatic circuit-breaker would kick in. In the antitrust case it did not, and, as this newspaper argued at the time (see article), he was lucky that it did not lead to the break-up of his company.
Inevitability and temperament are two hallmarks of Gates the innovator. The third is the transience of all pioneers. The argument was brilliantly laid out by Clayton Christensen, of Harvard Business School. The perfecting of a technology by a well managed company catering to its best customers leaves it vulnerable to “disruption” by a cheaper, scrappier alternative that is good enough for everyone else. That could be a description of Microsoft’s Office, which now does more than almost anybody could wish for—even as Google and others are offering free basic word-processors and spreadsheets online.
Mr Gates was haunted by Mr Christensen’s insight—he even asked for his help to keep back the tide. Microsoft successfully extended Windows as an operating system for servers; it has moved into new areas, such as mobile devices and video games; and it has lavished billions of dollars on all sorts of research—without much to show for it. Despite all those efforts, the PC, Mr Gates’s obsession, has ended up as an internet terminal. The company still has everything to prove online (see article). Watching Microsoft in the company of Google and Facebook is a bit like watching your dad trying to be cool.

Business is good for you

Mr Gates had the good fortune to be perfectly suited for his time—but he is less well-equipped for the collaborative and fragmented era of internet computing. This does not diminish his achievement. Nor, as some would have it, does his philanthropy necessarily magnify it. Whatever the corporate-social-responsibility gurus say, business is a force for good in itself: its most useful contribution to society is making profits and products. Philanthropy no more canonises the good businessman than it exculpates the bad. In spite of his flaws, Mr Gates is one of the good kind. Some great industrialists, like Henry Ford, stick around even as the world moves on and their powers fail. Mr Gates, pragmatic to the end, is leaving at the top.