Bill Gates hands over CEO post to friend Ballmer

BANGALORE: In a surprise move, Microsoft chairman and co-founder Bill Gates

announced that he was giving up the post of chief executive officer of the

company in favour of his long time friend and Microsoft president Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer will also join the company board on January 27.

Gates, who has served as CEO since he co-founded the company 25 years ago,

will remain chairman and take on the role of chief software architect, a new

post created for himself. Gates said, "I'm returning to what I love most -

focusing on technologies for the future. Steve's promotion will allow me to

dedicate myself full-time to my passion - building great software and

strategizing on the future, and nurturing and collaborating with the core team

helping Steve run the company."

Microsoft said the transition would take place surrounding the release of its

new Windows 2000 operating system -- the successor of the NT system, aimed at

office and professional users. Ballmer said he planned to concentrate on meeting

"heightened competition" in the market that has emerged with the

growth of non-PC computing and the Internet.

Although Gates' decision to hand the CEO duties to Ballmer had long been

anticipated, the timing of the announcement was not expected. Gates indicated

that he waited until after the release of Windows 2000 before making the change.

Gates said he plans to dedicate all of his time to fashioning new software

products and promoting Windows 2000. the ''next generation'' of Microsoft's

flagship product operating system. By all accounts, Windows 2000 will need all

the help it can get, as Microsoft’s corporate operating system has come under

heavy attack from Unix and Linux on the high and mid-size level, and from Java

on the Web and low-end device side.

Gates said he especially wants to develop software services that will be

hosted on the Internet and made part of future versions of Windows.

Ballmer grew up in Detroit, where his father, a Swiss immigrant, worked for

Ford Motor. He hired in 1980 by Gates, whom he met and became friends with when

both attended Harvard University in the 1970s. Ballmer was Gates' best man when

he married Melinda French in 1994. Ballmer's networth, based on his Microsoft

holdings are worth more than $25 billion.

Gates described the move as ''a personal decision, one I have discussed with

Steve and our board of directors for some time." ''I'm certainly honored

and very, very excited about the opportunity,'' Ballmer said.