Microsoft investors want rid of Gates?

An Apple with no Jobs and a Microsoft with no Gates? Weird, if inevitable ...

According to Reuters, three of Microsoft’s top 20 investors are making noise that Microsoft remove its founder and former CEO Bill Gates as chairman of its board, his current role.

The information is almost odd, and points at a potential blank slate for Microsoft. In the midst of a massive reorganization, current CEO Steve Ballmer is stepping down. If Gates were to transition away from the company as well, it would leave Microsoft with new top leadership and serve as a pivotal moment in its history.

Microsoft is more than working to better align its internal teams and revamp its larger business model by moving away from selling software and towards vending both “devices” and “services.” Its early services efforts, such as Office 365 and Azure, have performed well, while its Surface project (the devices side of things) has flagged.

Why shift Gates? According to Reuters, the grumpy few feel that he might hold the company back from finding new direction.

Don’t think for a minute that Gates is about to let go of the reins gently. He’s been a fixture at Microsoft since its soul was first formed, and even though he has no intention of returning to the CEO position, there is little to indicate that he be willing to relinquish the role.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/01/three-top-microsoft-investors-allegedly-want-to-boot-gates-from-the-companys-board/

Why doesn't he just buy out all their contracts and fire them? They probably all hate him because he gives away a lot of his money to needy causes. Republicans hate that.

MS is going shit because of the 'new directions' it keeps taking and then back tracking (vista, Win8, Xbox1)

Really its pretty simple they need to NOT change so much.
they get hammered on touch screens because MS has always been 2 button interface (your mouse), all their applicatrion and subsequently the vast majority of 3rd party applications are also 2 button interface because MS made it THE standard. Apple has always been 1 buttion interface, in the past it has been a limitation but it made it a lot easier for them to transition to touch screens.
MS need to repliacte the 2 button interface in a touch screen environment. with out any cutting edge tech i can think of how they can just with a physical shift key on the device, hold the shift key down and where you press acts like right click. MS easily has the power to get multipule manufactorer to add this shift key, then its whole back catalouge of software is availbale on the new touch devices, existing programs that are not been designed for touch screen would be useable because the screen will replicate the input of a mouse.

It is a lesson many big business have to learn: Don't try and change your customer, because your then your customer can choose to change you. if MS isn't the same then no benifit from previous exposure to their products since you need to learn it a new way, so can pick a Developer and learn that instead. Personally I'd prefer to learn to use Linux then windows 8, I have exposure to win8 and it sucks everything is changed just to make a 'new direction', which is the perfect excuse to learn a new system but like many cosumers It wont be theat piece of crap they call win8 (most are choosing Google Android)

MS have to accept they are not a monopoly any more so they don't get to choose the direction, they can make a suggestion but if it is more for their benifit than the consumers people will vote with their wallets (e.g. Xbox1 always on kinetic)


Also "three of Microsoft’s top 20 investors " so 15%, that means 85% Support him being there or at least have no great desire to see him leave.

:D 

SOME conservative dolts never learn...

People need only to look at what happened to Apple during the near-decade that they kept Steve Jobs out in the wilderness..

I wonder if those "3 investors" are also perchance among those "Tea Baggers" obstructionists in the US guvm'nt ?