Will Microsoft Become ‘Directionless’ After Bill Gates Steps Outside?

With Microsoft’s chairman set to “retire” next month, people are wondering what’s going to happen within the company, and what direction, if any, they will go. There’s little debate that Bill Gates has been the lead driving force for the company, and one of the reasons Microsoft has proven so successful has been due to his keen focus and intellect, so who can replace him?

As a little self-debate at C|Net shows, there’s not supposed to be a “replacement”, in a real sense of the word, because the fact is, Gates is irreplaceable as a person. But the worry is still there. Will Microsoft be directionless without Gates at the helm, or will they continue to conquer the market for the next ten years, as they have for the last fifteen or twenty?

Some might argue that Microsoft is directionless now, but I believe part of that is incorrect, since they obviously conquer various markets. They might not be overly successful in the online/search market, but it’s their software that’s their bread and butter. Vista sure didn’t help matters much, but if “7” shapes up to become what Vista should have been, then people may take back the “directionless” comment.

Regardless of my or your opinions though, it’s going to be a very interesting next few months at Redmond.

No one can replace Gates–that is not the point. Microsoft is in several businesses and generates more than $50 billion in revenue and a very healthy profit. The company is fighting battles on a lot of fronts, especially with Google, which could generate nearly half the revenue Microsoft does just selling search ads. That’s not something Gates has been able to fix during the last few years.

Source: Outside the Lines Blog