For most people, they would draw an equal sign between Bill Gates and Microsoft. Even though, Mr. Gates is the chairman of Microsoft, and holds the largest stock and is one of four members of the committee which decides who the next Chief is going to be, apparently, Mr. Gates was not the chief of Microsoft after the year of 2008 when he left his day-to-day responsibilities. Under great pressure coming from powerful competitors, like Apple, Microsoft is facing the situation that they are losing the dominance and monopoly in the field of personal computer softwares, and company interests have been stumbling for the past few years. Recently, its chief executive announced that he would resign in the next year. This action again brings influence to Microsoft and its employees.
Various predictions are made by the public. Some people think Gates is coming back to his day-to-day position again. Some people speculate that Mr. Mulally of Ford might be the one who takes the seat. Many Microsoft current and former employees expect to have someone who is sophisticated in technology to be the next chief.
Anyways, with the increasing number of substitutes, Microsoft is running towards a crossroad. Who the next chief is going to be may directly affect the future direction of Microsoft.
(The New York Times, Gates’s Future Fuels Speculation as Microsoft Seeks New Chief)