In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, Bill Gates has stepped down today from his post at Microsoft today. He’ll still get an office on the Microsoft campus, and he’ll still share his input, including working on special projects. A major target for OS fan boys are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, so this is a fond farewell to either a major target of disdain or icon of worship for many.
Rather than discuss the massive market share of Windows that OS X can only hope to chip away at, or picking on the recent perception problems with Vista, I’ll mention one thing we can all agree on. Bill Gates started the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest charitable foundation in the world with an endowment of $34.6 billion. The foundation has gone on to fight malaria and AIDS in third world countries, funding education worldwide (including $1 billion to the United Negro College Fund), among other great work around the world. Say what you will about Bill, from his cold, harsh personality in the board room to his nerdy appearance on camera. He’s used his success with Microsoft to start a foundation that will donate more money than any other in history which will touch many, many lives for years to come. And for that, Bill, I salute you.
