Bill Gates has failed
Like most people, I too was surprised when Bill Gates recently announced stepping down as Chief Software Architect at Microsoft. And to minimize the shock that this would cause, he also announced that he would stilll be around helping Ray Ozzie, who took over his Chief Software Architect role, during a transition period of 2 years. He’ll still remain Microsoft’s Chairman for the foreseeable future.
The reasons given for stepping down are related to Gates wanting to spend more time working for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for which he’s been working part-time for a while now. But looking at recent events and the situation at Microsoft, you can’t help but wonder if that really is the (only) reason for Gates stepping down. With the company facing a number of issues, and being in the middle of the ever delaying Windows Vista and Office 2007 development cycle, I’m sure he could have waited and picked a better time for his announcement, say, after Windows Vista and Office 2007 had shipped. Ofcourse the way things are going, that could mean having to wait a long time, and Gates sure is in the position to know this better than I do.
I think the reason for Gates stepping down is that he is basically admitting his failure. I’m not sure if he is doing it himself, or if he’s being pressed by others to do it. But he, or others around him, have probably come to realize that his performance and his results as Chief Software Architect have not been very good in the last 3-5 years, and only seem to get worse. Gates himself has said that he feels very excited about things like voice recognition, tablet PC, unified filesystems and many other things that he feels that he still needs to help realize (see interview done by Robert Scoble), and it doesn’t make sense to me that someone who is excited about this would step down and go focus on unrelated things at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It seems to me that if he was really excited about his work at Microsoft, he’d want to stay. That’s not an unreasonable assumption to make for someone as passionate as Gates, if you ask me. It looks like it’s just not as fun anymore for Gates, not fun enough for him to want to stay, in any case.
One of the biggest failures of Gates is Windows Vista. When Windows Vista and Office 2007 miss their release dates, people often begin to blame Steve Ballmer. And as CEO, he has the ultimate responsibility, but the real guy in charge of Windows Vista is Bill Gates. Afterall, he was the Chief Software Architect, and the most senior technical guy responsible for making Vista development a success. And the way Windows Vista’s development went is nothing to be proud of to say the least. It’s a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering.
I still have the PDC 2003 DVDs with all the sessions about the various new technologies and features that would make their way into Windows Vista. It was very exciting to see that, but very little of those features are going to make it into Windows Vista. Microsoft has been either completely removing features out of Windows Vista, even major ones like WinFS, or seriously scaling back other planned features. What remains now of Windows Vista is just a tiny part of what it was really supposed to be. And even then, its release is continiously being delayed. I’ve tried beta versions of Windows Vista, and the quality of the beta releases are less compared to previous betas I’ve been in. When Beta 1 was released it just seemed like they had to release it just so they could keep their promise of releasing it on schedule. There were such obvious bugs in it, I kept wondering how people missed those. The answer, ofcourse, is not that they missed those bugs, they just didn’t have enough time to fix them and have a more quality Beta 1 release. Even the Beta 2 release lacks quality. And just like they released Beta 1 just because they had to keep their promise, they are promising to release Windows Vista by the end of the year for businesses, with the consumer versions being released in January 2007. I don’t know about you, but that seems rather odd to me. If the consumer versions can’t be finished by the end of the year, why can the business versions be ready then? Weren’t all the versions supposed to be released on a single DVD?
It just looks like they’re saying that the business versions of Windows Vista will be ready before the end of 2006 just to lessen the impact of another delay for the short term. There are already mentions of another delay, and it won’t surprise me one bit if general availability of Windows Vista slips to the middle of 2007. I’ve been saying before that they should have taken the time required to do it right, instead of giving out unrealistic release dates. The whole issue they’re having now is because of their own stupidity. This is certainly not the way to go if you want to please your big Software Assurance customers on the long term. On the short term, I guess you can certainly get away with unrealistic release dates, yes.
One of the major screwups that Gates was in charge of is WinFS, which was supposed to make it into Windows Vista. It was so important in fact, that it was called one of the pillars of Windows Vista. First it was taken out of Windows Vista, and it was said that it would be released after Windows Vista was released as an add-on. And now, it’s been announced that WinFS will not be released anymore as a seperate add-on. It’s been broken up, with bits and pieces of it going to SQL Server and ADO.NET. So there will not be a relational filesystem anymore. Take the time to read that blogentry with the announcement, and notice how Microsoft is trying to make it sound like this is a positive thing. You really have to appreciate the attempts at deception there, because they’re quite good. Here they are, essentially announcing “Hey, we’re going to stop working on WinFS, and we’re not going to release it anymore as an add-on for Windows Vista”, and they expect you to fall for the positive spin they put on it, trying to deflect your attention away from the fact that they failed to deliver what they promised. And according to the announcement, we’re supposed to like this because it was done “based on feedback they received.” I wonder who they got that feedback from, since last I checked, everyone was hoping WinFS would be released and bring us a relational filesystem. And we’re talking about what was once considered a pillar of Windows Vista!
Why can’t they just admit they screwed up? Just admit WinFS was too difficult a task for you, and explain why you can’t finish it, instead of trying to fool people. And WinFS was one of the things that Gates stood behind and wanted to get into Vista really badly. Together with the rest of the whole Vista mess, I think this is why Gates has stepped down. His other efforts like the tablet PC and Origami were also not very successful. If these are really the reasons why he’s stepping down, you have to wonder why he doesn’t just come out and admit it. The senior leadership at Microsoft just doesn’t seem to want to admit their failures these days. They don’t seem to want to hold themselves accountable. And if they do, they just “retire,” often with a 1 or 2 year transition period, not actually taking any blame and making their exit seem positive.
And now, the one guy that was setting the example for everyone else at Microsoft has left them. Yeah, I’m talking about Robert Scoble. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who won’t admit that Scoble has a done a lot for Microsoft’s public image, particularly, making the company seem more human. As early as 2003 he put up a list of points on his old weblog, explaining the things companies need to do if they want to put up a company weblog. Those points are exactly the things Microsoft needs to do right now, and I’m surprised they haven’t been paying more (any?) attention to the points Scoble listed there. I’m quite sure Scoble probably told them about those things much earlier and often as well, but it doesn’t seem like people were paying attention. At least, the senior management at Microsoft didn’t even seem to notice. I don’t think Ballmer or Gates even took the time to try and talk Scoble out of leaving Microsoft, which is a clear indication of how much they valued what he was doing for Microsoft, and how much they understand the need for what he was doing at Microsoft.
Microsoft is dealing with a number of problems right now, and in a future post I’ll talk about those problems and about the things they need to do to make things better for the future.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, July 1st, 2006 at 4:25 pm by Karel Donk
and is filed under 
July 2nd, 2006 at 2:23 pm
how can humanbeings always write pathetic and useless stuff like this?
i just dont get it.
July 2nd, 2006 at 2:29 pm
it’d be helpful if you wrote a little about what you don’t get, or agree with.
July 2nd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I think a little bit of perspective is in order.
I find it very difficult to classify a man literally worth BILLIONS of dollars a failure at the very profession that earned him those billions. And then to suggest that the dedication of a huge portion of these BILLIONS of dollars as anything other than a task worthy of his attention, is something I find…unbelievable.
The man has “been there, done that” to the tune of creating the single largest software producing company on the face of the planet.
You do realize that these so-called “unrelated things at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation” are in fact a modern day crusade against some very big problems facing humans now, not only that but funded completely by private people to the tune of over 60 Billion dollars,. One of the tasks is aimed at whiping out Malaria (a disease which kills about 20 million people a year).
Now, to presume to call Bill Gates a failure is something only a digital pundit could have the audicity to do.
I think its hard to put accross just how much impact this one man has had on human history. He is by no means alone in this, but so far he is the only one that had decided to dedicate a bulk of his wealth for the betterment of the human condition.
He has in effect, put his money where is mouth is and extended that maxim to include his time aswell.
-Gooney
July 2nd, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Gooney,
I think there’s a difference between calling Gates a failure and saying that he has failed. I’m sure everyone agrees he’s doing great things at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and that he has achieved a lot with Microsoft.
However, he has failed his role as Chief Software Architect at Microsoft during the last 4years in any case. Anyone can guess what the reasons were for that. But that he has failed to deliver what he promised, especially when Vista is concerned is a simple fact. I think that’s why he is stepping down as Chief Sofware Architect. Maybe he’s just not up to the task anymore or the challenges are too big.
So I’m not calling him a failure in general if that’s what you think. When I say “unrelated things at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”, I also don’t mean to say that those are unimportant. Just that those things are not related to his job at Microsoft, and that if, like he says, he is so excited about his work at Microsoft, he’d want to be a bigger part of, and more involved in, it. Knowing passionate people, that is what they do. If they are REALLY excited about something, nothing’s going to stop them to be a part of it. Gates just isn’t that excited about it anymore. And if you look at his recent performance as Chief Software Architect, and the issues at Microsoft, it’s easy to understand why.
July 2nd, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Just curious Gooney, what\’s your take on Windows Vista as it stands at the moment? Do you think that cutting out core items, slipping ship dates, poor quality beta\’s and a generally confused attempt to constantly spin the thing positive are hallmarks of a successful software developement?
I can\’t villify a guy that spends that much of his personal wealth (and time) for the betterment of others, but portraying Bill Gates as some sort of modern saint for his contribution to software world does not mean that he can escape blame for being the chief architect of the current shambles known as Vista. From your post:
“I think its hard to put accross just how much impact this one man has had on human history. He is by no means alone in this, but so far he is the only one that had decided to dedicate a bulk of his wealth for the betterment of the human condition.”
I\’m curious, does this give Bill a ‘get out of jail free’ card to avoid his responsibilities re: Vista? Just like any other person who collects a wage, Bill is responsible for his job. And if he fails at a task that he has set for himself, should he not own up to that failure?
Oh yeah, and there was a fellow recently (2nd most wealthy man in the US iirc) who donated 80% of his net personal wealth via trust over time to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, estimated to total some 38 billion dollars. Philanthropy is alive and kicking and the measure of charity is not how much you give, it\’s how much you have left afterwards.
July 2nd, 2006 at 7:23 pm
How again has Bill Gates failed in his role? I agree with Gooney. The guy has created the most successful software company and last I heard Microsoft isn’t folding any time soon. Vista is late!?!? Oh my God! Crucify the SOB! I have NEVER EVER heard of software being late! Unheard of!
Vista being late is not a bad thing. New versions of the OS do not need to come out every couple of years despite what Microsoft and bitheads would like you to believe. The only folks crying over a delay is Microsoft and hardware vendors.
The guy is probably bored doing the same thing for 20+ years and is getting a bigger thrill out of his charity work. It seemed that way when I saw him and his wife in an interview.
If he has failed then GIVE ME SOME OF WHAT HE HAS GOT!
July 2nd, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Is it possible that the reason Gates is stepping down is that he realizes that he has not put enough time into his primary Job at MS..and instead is playing the Foundation game.. Hence the Vista issues and the “resignation”… Although to assume the GATES had put that much into the Software end in the past 3-5 years is probably in error.. Christ.. that House he built took most of the past few years just coming up with crazy shizzle to put in it!!
R\:mrgreen:
July 3rd, 2006 at 1:57 am
Greets Fellas,
Ya I get what your saying Karel, I just dont think that the state of Vista one way or another really had any impact on Gates leaving. Does anyone seriously think that Gates had any significant “hands-on” time during any of the dev cycle of Windows 2000 or XP? If so, I think everyone is fairly well deluded. The Chief Software Architect is an idea guy. These are the guys that take market data and sit in meetings trying to decide which direction a product should be heading. They are rarely if ever involved in whatever is cooking NOW but rather ballparking ideas for future developments. Powerpoint presentations as opposed to Visual Studio Projects.
In most companies the Chief Software Architect title is given to one of the most savvy, appreciated coders in order to keep them around and semi-active once they no longer desire to activly code. It is in my personal experiance a soft position, one for keeping the ideas in-house rather than letting them go to a competetor. In Gates case it was a natural evolution.
The state of Vista is fairly typical of any large commitee designed software, the hardest part of that project is going to be tying all of the many thousands of small applications together. Personally I have no opinion on it either way, I am far more concerned with the practical realities of the Microsoft Licensing policies than I am of how wiz-bangy Vista will be. For me personally XP suits all of my needs for workstations and Windows 2003 Server is a damn fine OS for servers. I dont want to get into an OS discussion those tend to be quasi-religious anyway (the ol Linux vs Windows vs VMS vs…etc).
I just dont think you can read Gates’s stepping down in the way you have interpreted.
There ya have it,
Gooney
July 3rd, 2006 at 3:10 am
Excellent article.
Gates being able to create and nurture Microsoft to where it is now, goes a long way into showing how well he did his job. However, times have changed dramatically since then. The company did not grow in the ways that time demanded. There comes a point in a corporation’s life where the means a company used to get where it is, has to change to keep the company alive.
A lot like how an empire has to expand to stay alive, but with the flawed empire method, it gets so big it cannot sustain itself – somewhere in there the empire has to change to another form. That, in my opinion, is how Gate failed the most. He needed to step down long ago, and the company needed to adapt to the new world that it created, with fresh faces.
The computer industry out-evolved Microsoft, arguably the company that gave it the energy to evolve
“You do realize that these so-called ?unrelated things at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation��? are in fact a modern day crusade against some very big problems facing humans now, not only that but funded completely by private people to the tune of over 60 Billion dollars,. One of the tasks is aimed at whiping out Malaria (a disease which kills about 20 million people a year).”
I’d have more respect for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation if Bill didn’t give India 100 million for AIDS and MS gave India 400 million to use MS products on the same day. Not to say they haven’t done good things, I just wish there was not even the hint of a question to the motives.
July 3rd, 2006 at 3:52 am
You have some good points on how the failures of Vista might have contributed to his leave from microsoft, but I think your downplaying his philanthropy way too much.
There has been 30b added to his foundation. Thats not just transfering the money to go buy some more food packages, their foundation needs a massive overhaul and will require a lot of work done. The money is being transfered slowly every year, and in the next few years they need to basically double their foundation. And its fairly plauseable that Gates now considers this top priority, rather than microsoft, since rather than being on the cover of time for being a greedy asshole in an antitrust lawsuit, he was given man of the year and looked at like a saint. Because of that, his leave does not suprize me at all, and I think, most people would have done the same regardless of the situation at microsoft.
Its a good article, and brings up some good points, but its just obvious that is not the case.
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:05 am
I’m more concerned with the anti-competative nature of M$. Whose’s behind all that?
Is Bill the man that wanted to kill off OpenGL because it’s an open standard for graphics that’s cross platform and lets people write apps and games for Windows/Mac OSX/Linux ?
Is Bill the man that what’s to take over the internet by taking all the good ideas and trying to do bigger and better(but failing).
IE: non-standard HTML tags and syntax to stop other browsers from working ( anyone who tries to do a web application know what I mean) W3C writes the standards but M$ pick and choose which ones to confirm to.
IE killed off NetScape(almost) IE 7 has tabbed browsing(like all it’s competitions have for ages) – how many other products have 80% of a market share yet are less secure, have less features and are slower then a couple of FREE products.
Only two reason to still be using IE – Ignorance / Laziness
ActiveX: M$ only web app api
MSN IM: closed standard so only M$ platforms can talk on it ( I’m using a couple of linux IM programs that support M$ protocal but M$ keep changing it to block Linux & Mac clients).
Hotmail : bought my M$
Skype: all the features now in Windows Messenger Live.
Graphics API: couldn’t gain control over OpenGL so bought out another company that had something close and renamed it DirectX
Virtual Machines: Needed to compete with Connectix and VMWare so bought Connectix’s VirtualPC product.
WebServices: Tied to make everyone believe they invented it, renamed it .NET
Open Document Standards: One was agreed and approved using XML and adopted by OfficeOffice, StarOffice and another I can never remember the name of, but M$ don’t have control over it so the next M$ Office will not support it and it instead will use a M$ XML format for documents.
Now Vista is coming ( sometime before the end of the world, the two things may be connected
)
Apart from a flashy desktop ( Fedora 5 & Suse 10.1 both can do transparent windows and such already, so big deal there ) what does Vista offer?
Just look at the min reqs for Vista then compare to other OS’s. it a joke.
I can run a full server install of Suse 10.1 complete with transparent windows and all the nice effects in a M$ VirtualPC with only 512MB memory and no graphics hardware.
If Bill is the man with the vision then he went blind a long time ago. He’s forgotten what an OS is and what it’s used for.
I have an old laptop at home which reports only 59mb of memory. I can run a full OS on it complete with GUI, I can play Mp3′s using a gui media player, I can browse the web using FireFox, I’m running Apache2 and using it has a live web server. All of that takes a real OS one that doesn’t need a ton of memory just to run. The OS? it’s DamnSmallLinux.
Bill should move on and spend more time with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation because there he can do some good for the world because his impact and control on the Software industry has not been positive. I mean most free software products can get to point where they are better then the M$ version but for a non-free product you have two paths:
If your product is original: M$ Buys you or M$ Kills you buy releasing a competive product, it may not be better but will have that all important M$ sticker on it.
If you product is not original: M$ will copy all the things that makes you product better than theirs and watch you wither.
Outside the Software industry – Keep up the good work Mr Gates.
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Is it really so hard to believe that a man who doesn’t have anything left to prove just want to start working for humanitarian causes? Once you have everything you could ever want, what then? People are reading WAY to much into this situation.
And calling Vista a failure seems incredibly uniformed in my opinion. Its not like it was just supposed to be XP with WinFS tacked on. Its a MAJOR rewrite. WinFS would have been NEAT but there are so many other more important things they are accomplishing with vista.
*shrug*
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Gooney: Regarding Gates having “hands on” time, read this link: http://net127.com/2005/09/24/battling-google-microsoft-changes-how-it-builds-software/
John: As stated before, it was certainly not my intention to downplay Gates’s efforts in philanthropy. This article just focused on his role as Chief technical guy at MS in the last 3-5 years.
Waffles: Gates’s management of Vista is a failure. Windows Vista itself has become a fraction of what it was supposed to be. It will certainly be better than XP if they can make it a quality release. But it is faaaar from what was promised in 2003. And in that regard, it is a failure.
July 4th, 2006 at 8:22 am
No. Think again. Brain. On. Life.
Think.
July 4th, 2006 at 8:24 am
So a product that hasnt been released and you, AND NOBODY, has been able to use yet is their biggest faiure. And the fact that you use such superior and clearly intellectual language makes it true. We’re not that stupid.
Get a job.
July 25th, 2006 at 9:16 am
earl
December 1st, 2007 at 8:57 am
In my experience in most Large companies theres many projects underway, most fail and only select few succeeed. If you watch the C9 videos you will see a demo of winFS in action even in Xp (thats right bitch) winFS beta1 works in Vista and Xp. The project will become apart of SQL and ADO and possible implementation in the future. but winFS was in another point of view looking at it a success. The team actually got a filesystem to work with Win32 and database MS. The actual product can store files streams as well as rows in a dataset which allows backward compatibility. Although the project failed to ship, it is hope for one day might still be implemented in the future. I know one of the ohter major aspectsd was that search was slow, more comprehensive but slow. Desktop Search is a small DB file of indexed files so it could search much quicker.
Ok thats all I had to say.