The news on Thursday that Bill Gates will leave operational command of Microsoft and be full time with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from July 1, 2008 did not shock the stock market. Succession at Microsoft is likely to be a smooth affair. Observing how aggressively Microsoft expanded development work in India we can expect Bill Gates to bring the same energy and "mass global" effect to philanthropy that he brought to the computer industry with Microsoft. Bill Gates will aggressively promote health and other basic issues for the poorest in Africa and Asia. According to this article from Forbes, Bill Gates is unlikely to meddle with Microsoft and I tend to agree.
Steve Jobs and Apple are great on the market side but Apple really don’t want to be a "mass brand". Check out Apple Stores if you are not an Apple user and you’ll know what I mean. It is probably because of the backlash from their rather select niche Apple customers that Apple have decided to go slow with customer support from Bangalore. This will be really interesting to check out when I am in Bangalore next month….