Three years ago, when Bill Gates handed the CEO position over to Steve Ballmer, this Microsoft founder moved from the front stage to behind the scenes. So what has Gates been doing behind the scenes these past three years? Gates's challenge
Over the past more than ten years, Gates has done quite successfully: he built the most profitable technology company in history, turned the computer industry into a mass-market industry; he also wrote two best-selling books; created the richest charitable foundation in the world, and so on. Three years ago, Gates pushed his good friend Ballmer to the front stage while he himself hid behind the scenes, appointing himself Microsoft's Chief Software Architect and engaging in the software development he loves most. To this day Gates believes this was the wisest decision of his life.
However, Microsoft has already passed its golden age of rapid growth. In 1999, Microsoft's growth rate was still 29%, but last year it was only 10%. This was something Gates had not expected when he stepped down from the CEO position three years ago. At the same time, Windows XP also failed to achieve the expected success, and the progress of the .NET strategy has been extremely slow. Microsoft's stock price is only 54 dollars, only half of its 1999 peak stock price. There is no doubt that Microsoft has now become a giant. In the fiscal year ending June 30 this year, Microsoft's revenue will exceed 28 billion dollars, with profits as high as 9 billion dollars. The company currently has more than 50,000 employees, offers more than 227 products and services, has branches in 74 countries, and cash flow has reached 39 billion dollars.
But if in the coming years Gates cannot create another world-changing product, then everything at Microsoft will change, and in the capital market Microsoft will no longer win investors' favor.
Gates is facing an unprecedented challenge, because the burden of Microsoft's future rests on his shoulders alone. Now Gates spends most of his time communicating with Microsoft's product specialists. He must predict the development trends of software technology and formulate an overall long-term technical vision for Microsoft.
Gates's new mission: building the greatest operating system
In Gates's future plan for Microsoft, Longhorn is undoubtedly an important trump card. Longhorn is regarded as the next-generation Windows operating system, but it is not merely an upgrade of the operating system, rather a fundamental innovation. Gates claims that this operating system will appear in 2005. Gates and his working group have already drafted detailed plans. They have begun discussing what an operating system should really look like, how data and files should be stored, and how users can better share this information.
However, developing an innovative operating system is only one part of the entire Longhorn plan. Because the operating system is to undergo major adjustments, Microsoft's other software products and services will also have to be redesigned, including MSN online services, the server suite, and Microsoft's Office software.
But because Microsoft has thrown its R&D elite into “longhorn,” other products may fall behind, and the risk in this is obvious. The rules of the game in the software industry are simple: everything depends on innovation. Therefore, unless “longhorn” has an absolute advantage over Microsoft's existing operating systems, Microsoft will fall into a deadlock. In Gates's words, everything is for longhorn.
Gates has a very concrete understanding of how “longhorn” will benefit customers, children, and IT professionals. What he is focusing on now is turning these ideas into “specifications.” Every Microsoft product originates from a series of “specifications.” For a project on the scale of ‘longhorn’, hundreds of product plans are needed. Gates can distill some key elements, and then R&D teams can be built around them.
Gates's product plans often take the form of questions that customers might ask. Gates and his assistants put these questions about “longhorn” into ten categories, such as people, annotations, real-time communication, storage, identity authentication, security, new appearance, and so on, then assign them to the corresponding R&D teams and managers. Gates keeps a close eye on Longhorn's progress, and every 6 to 8 weeks he convenes the Longhorn development team to ask about detailed progress.
Besides “longhorn,” Gates is also watching the development of other products. Tablet PC is one of his creations. Although the device is produced and sold by PC manufacturers, its specifications were formulated by Microsoft, and the product will go on the market this autumn.
In addition, Gates pays special attention to the think tank he established ten years ago—Microsoft Research. At present the institute has 600 researchers, mainly engaged in software technology, interface technology, speech recognition, and computer graphics research. Gates is very interested in its “BestCom” research project, hoping it can become part of “longhorn.”
If “longhorn” succeeds, the entire software world will change once again, and Microsoft's competitors will then feel how hard survival is. Of course, Gates will also become even richer by then
Over the past more than ten years, Gates has done quite successfully: he built the most profitable technology company in history, turned the computer industry into a mass-market industry; he also wrote two best-selling books; created the richest charitable foundation in the world, and so on. Three years ago, Gates pushed his good friend Ballmer to the front stage while he himself hid behind the scenes, appointing himself Microsoft's Chief Software Architect and engaging in the software development he loves most. To this day Gates believes this was the wisest decision of his life.
However, Microsoft has already passed its golden age of rapid growth. In 1999, Microsoft's growth rate was still 29%, but last year it was only 10%. This was something Gates had not expected when he stepped down from the CEO position three years ago. At the same time, Windows XP also failed to achieve the expected success, and the progress of the .NET strategy has been extremely slow. Microsoft's stock price is only 54 dollars, only half of its 1999 peak stock price. There is no doubt that Microsoft has now become a giant. In the fiscal year ending June 30 this year, Microsoft's revenue will exceed 28 billion dollars, with profits as high as 9 billion dollars. The company currently has more than 50,000 employees, offers more than 227 products and services, has branches in 74 countries, and cash flow has reached 39 billion dollars.
But if in the coming years Gates cannot create another world-changing product, then everything at Microsoft will change, and in the capital market Microsoft will no longer win investors' favor.
Gates is facing an unprecedented challenge, because the burden of Microsoft's future rests on his shoulders alone. Now Gates spends most of his time communicating with Microsoft's product specialists. He must predict the development trends of software technology and formulate an overall long-term technical vision for Microsoft.
Gates's new mission: building the greatest operating system
In Gates's future plan for Microsoft, Longhorn is undoubtedly an important trump card. Longhorn is regarded as the next-generation Windows operating system, but it is not merely an upgrade of the operating system, rather a fundamental innovation. Gates claims that this operating system will appear in 2005. Gates and his working group have already drafted detailed plans. They have begun discussing what an operating system should really look like, how data and files should be stored, and how users can better share this information.
However, developing an innovative operating system is only one part of the entire Longhorn plan. Because the operating system is to undergo major adjustments, Microsoft's other software products and services will also have to be redesigned, including MSN online services, the server suite, and Microsoft's Office software.
But because Microsoft has thrown its R&D elite into “longhorn,” other products may fall behind, and the risk in this is obvious. The rules of the game in the software industry are simple: everything depends on innovation. Therefore, unless “longhorn” has an absolute advantage over Microsoft's existing operating systems, Microsoft will fall into a deadlock. In Gates's words, everything is for longhorn.
Gates has a very concrete understanding of how “longhorn” will benefit customers, children, and IT professionals. What he is focusing on now is turning these ideas into “specifications.” Every Microsoft product originates from a series of “specifications.” For a project on the scale of ‘longhorn’, hundreds of product plans are needed. Gates can distill some key elements, and then R&D teams can be built around them.
Gates's product plans often take the form of questions that customers might ask. Gates and his assistants put these questions about “longhorn” into ten categories, such as people, annotations, real-time communication, storage, identity authentication, security, new appearance, and so on, then assign them to the corresponding R&D teams and managers. Gates keeps a close eye on Longhorn's progress, and every 6 to 8 weeks he convenes the Longhorn development team to ask about detailed progress.
Besides “longhorn,” Gates is also watching the development of other products. Tablet PC is one of his creations. Although the device is produced and sold by PC manufacturers, its specifications were formulated by Microsoft, and the product will go on the market this autumn.
In addition, Gates pays special attention to the think tank he established ten years ago—Microsoft Research. At present the institute has 600 researchers, mainly engaged in software technology, interface technology, speech recognition, and computer graphics research. Gates is very interested in its “BestCom” research project, hoping it can become part of “longhorn.”
If “longhorn” succeeds, the entire software world will change once again, and Microsoft's competitors will then feel how hard survival is. Of course, Gates will also become even richer by then
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