Gates to cede Microsoft reins two years from now

Bill Gates said Thursday that he would leave his day-to-day role there in two years.

I think we'll look back at this day as the separation between two eras in software — the first being software in a box, and the second software distributed over the Internet for free and funded by advertising, said George F. Colony, chief executive of Forrester Research. The new era requires a complete re-examination of Microsoft's business model, which has been one of most profitable the world has ever seen.


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