Power Shift at Microsoft III

December 21, 2001 9:10 PM UTC REDMOND WASHINGTON
Microsoft's new leaders hold press conference and present their credentials and vision of the future with the software giant.

Bill Gates Joins in with NetMeeting™

Reluctant to leave? Bill Gates joins in via video link.

Bill Gates, co-founder, former chief executive officer, and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, later joined the press conference by video hookup using the company's famous™ video conferencing software.

The visit was unexpected, but all were glad to see Bill popping in to say hello. He wished the new management the best of luck and reiterated his confidence in their abilities.

'This is a top notch team', he told reporters via link. 'We spent a lot of time finding out exactly who has the pulse of the industry today - and we hired them.'

Gates also took some time to reflect on more personal matters.

'It's time for me to get back to the family', Gates said. 'Already after this morning's announcement I felt a great burden lifted from my shoulders.'

Gates denied claims he was retiring completely however. 'This is my life's work. There is no way I can just sit around the house all day long. I'm a programmer, I always have been, I always will be, and I'm a good programmer too, and there is absolutely no way that is ever going to change.'

'Steve feels the same way', the richest man in the world went on. 'As soon as he gets his voice back we're going to talk about the future.'

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