Gates to stop working at Microsoft full-time; good news for valley start-ups

June 15, 2006 | Matt Marshall

Microsoft Bill Gates, co-founder of the software giant, plans to give up day-to-day duties at the company beginning in July 2008.

According to a statement today, Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately take the title chief software architect, working side by side with Gates. Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer

The story doesn’t say Gates is leaving Microsoft, but that he’ll be spending more time at his non-profit foundation. We think this may be more significant that it sounds. Looks like he’s exiting the strategy portion of the business. You know the lore: Once a company’s founder leaves, so does the fiery passion that pushes it along. This could leave Microsoft adrift, good for all the little guys down here in Silicon Valley.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.