Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is walking off into the sunset, leaving the software giant three decades after founding what would become one of the world's largest companies. Over the next two years he
will phase out his day-to-day role as he and his wife Melinda shift their focus to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, their multibillion-dollar charity. However, Gates will not be giving up his
role as chairman, or his controlling interest in Microsoft. So what does his decision mean for the embryonic Cold War between Microsoft and search dominator Google? Surely, Gates and co. are now
giving in to the younger/faster/sleeker Web outfit from Mountain View, Calif.? "I think we'll look back at this day as the separation between two eras in software--the first being software in a box,
and the second, software distributed over the Internet for free and funded by advertising," Forrester Research Chief George F. Colony tells
The New York Times. In other words,
Microsoft--despite its size and cash flow--is the one that's playing catch-up, forced to rework what has been one of the most profitable business models in history. But without its commander-in-chief,
how will Microsoft fare in this transition? Advantage: Google.
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