Bill Gates

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'Bogus Bill Gates' Winds Down Career

$2,500 impersonator follows in Microsoft chief's footsteps

(Newser) - The Washington man who made his living doing dead-on impressions of Bill Gates is following the billionaire into retirement. Steve Sires has been impersonating the Microsoft chairman for a decade, and charging $2,500 for an appearance. But as the 52-year old Gates is winding down his career, so is...

Dissed by Vista, Businesses Return the Favor

Consumer-focused OS sports poor performance, big cost

(Newser) - Microsoft's strategy of marketing Vista to consumers has turned off its other core constituency, the Wall Street Journal reports: business. Certainly, technical issues and a fat price tag have decimated the number of companies planning to install it: Just 26% of IT departments say they expect to install Vista by...

Gates Departure Should Calm the Waters

Joint leadership with Ballmer slowed, hurt Microsoft's growth

(Newser) - Bill Gates’ departure from full-time employment at Microsoft on June 27 will end 8 contentious years in which Gates has attempted to stay onboard while nominally beneath his close friend and new CEO, Steve Ballmer. Though they built the company together, this “ambassadorial succession” produced mixed results, with Gates...

Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment
Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment
OPINION
May 29, 2008 3:05 PM CDT

Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment

Yahoo fallout just the first challenge for Ballmer, Microsoft

(Newser) - Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer are facing a scary, new post-Bill-Gates world, Therese Poletti writes on MarketWatch. On a panel at the All Things Digital conference earlier this week, Ballmer and Gates fielded questions about Microsoft’s failed Yahoo bid and unpopular Vista operating system. “Ballmer and indeed Microsoft...

Microsoft Will Offer Search Customers Cash

Rewards part of effort to gain ground on market leader Google

(Newser) - Having largely abandoned its bid to buy, in the form of Yahoo, a significant presence in the Internet search business, Microsoft now will give customers money back when they buy items through its Live.com search portal, the Wall Street Journal reports. To be made official today, the move makes...

Microsoft Takes Windows to the Walls

Microsoft's TouchWall technology aims to make any surface part of your computer

(Newser) - Microsoft has already unveiled mega-expensive “Surface” computers, with which a user interacts solely through touch. Now, cNet reports, it's unveiled an impressive lower-budget version: the TouchWall. Touchwall looks like an ordinary projector, except that the image it projects on the wall is itself an interactive touch screen.

Ballmer's Competitive Streak Drove Yahoo Bid

Microsoft CEO once vowed to 'kill Google'

(Newser) - Microsoft's Yahoo bid put CEO Steve Ballmer to the test: How much would he pay to fulfill his promise to "(expletive) kill Google"? Forty-seven billion bucks was too high, but many say he'll try again—and may have a tough time convincing investors it's all cool calculation. Microsoft...

Spam, Curse of Web, Turns 30
 Spam, Curse of Web, Turns 30 
May 3, 2008 11:06 AM CDT

Spam, Curse of Web, Turns 30

First junk email sent three decades ago; it's as healthy as ever today

(Newser) - Spam turns 30 today, but don't break out the champagne just yet: The junk e-mail is as healthy as ever, frustrating tech experts desperate to blow out its candles. It all started on May 3, 1978, with a pitch for a new computer on a government-run precursor to the Internet....

Microsoft Profit Dips 11%
 Microsoft Profit Dips 11% 
earnings report
Apr 24, 2008 4:43 PM CDT

Microsoft Profit Dips 11%

Revenue of $14.5 billion virtually unchanged from last year

(Newser) - Microsoft's profits fell 11% in the third quarter amid concern that corporate clients are cutting back during the economic downturn, Bloomberg reports. The software giant reported net income of $4.39 billion, or 47 cents a share, down from $4.93 billion a year ago. The company's revenue remained flat...

Microsoft and Yahoo: Second Date, Still No Kiss

The two sides meet again, but neither will budge

(Newser) - Microsoft and Yahoo execs met again this week, but the software maker refused to raise its takeover offer and the two sides failed to make progress toward an agreement. Yahoo won’t enter formal negotiations unless Microsoft increases its Jan. 31 cash-and-stock bid, then worth $44.6 billion and now...

Gates to FCC: Give Us More WiFi Spectrum

Urges regulators to approve Internet use of TV "white space"

(Newser) - A month after Microsoft failed its second opportunity to convince the FCC that companies could deliver broadband Internet via unused TV frequencies without interfering with programming, Bill Gates pushed regulators Thursday to approve the plan, Reuters reports. He said “white space” between channels could allow WiFi to “explode”...

US Needs More Visas, Gates Tells Congress

America's status as tech leader is in jeopardy, he says

(Newser) - Bill Gates exhorted Congress today to increase the number of available H-1B visas for highly skilled foreigners, and invest more in domestic education in science and technology, cNet reports. "It makes no sense to educate people in our universities, often subsidized by US taxpayers, and then insist they return...

US May Move to Restrict H-1B Visa 'Cheaters'

Demand for skilled labor will fuel another application rush

(Newser) - The US is expecting a record number of applications for H-1B visas—given to highly skilled, specialized foreign workers—and is considering rules to penalize companies that try to improve their chances, ComputerWorld reports. Desperate firms have been known to send more than one application—123, 480 were received last...

Buffet Unseats Gates as Richest Man on Earth

He's worth $62B; Gates is now third with $58B.

(Newser) - Bill Gates has passed the gilded torch: Warren Buffett and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim have ended the Microsoft founder's 13-year reign as richest man on earth, Forbes reports. Buffett's fortune grew $10 billion this year to $62 billion, while Slim weighs in with an estimated $60 billion. Gates trails...

Microsoft Pioneer Leaves $65M to Gay Rights Groups

Gates' high school pal leaves a record gift

(Newser) - One of the first five Microsoft employees has left $65 million of his estate to gay rights groups, the Seattle Times reports. Ric Weiland, who helped high school friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch Microsoft, committed suicide in 2006 at age 53. His donation is believed to be the...

Microsoft Talks Tough; Proxy Battle Likely

Gates says Yahoo should 'take a hard look' at $41.6B bid

(Newser) - Microsoft, at loggerheads with Yahoo over its $41.6-billion offer for the popular web portal, is talking tough, threatening a proxy battle to unseat Yahoo’s reticent board of directors, reports the Wall Street Journal. But even a win, which experts say would be relatively cheap to achieve, could cost...

Microsoft's Big Yahoo Offer May Be a Ruse

PC leader aims only to block a Yahoo-Amazon alliance, analyst says

(Newser) - One possible reason for Microsoft’s massive bid for Yahoo: It’s a ploy to block a Yahoo-Amazon team-up, one analyst says. The $44.6 billion offer will never make it past regulators, Trip Chowdhry explains to MarketWatch. But Microsoft insists otherwise: Chowdhry’s report “is completely incorrect,”...

Gates Optimism Buoys Mood in Davos
Gates Optimism Buoys Mood
in Davos
Jan 25, 2008 7:59 AM CST

Gates Optimism Buoys Mood in Davos

After glum start, 'creative capitalism' speech rallies leaders

(Newser) - An upbeat, optimistic Bill Gates livened up the dour World Economic Forum in Davos with a speech on "creative capitalism" and a pledge of $306 million to support African agriculture. After two days of muttering about the subprime fallout and an American recession, Gates told delegates yesterday to cast...

Departing Gates Plays Tired Tune at Vegas Show
Departing Gates Plays Tired Tune at Vegas Show
OPINION
Jan 8, 2008 12:56 PM CST

Departing Gates Plays Tired Tune at Vegas Show

Critic sees lame-duck Microsoft boss coming up short on new ideas

(Newser) - Bill Gates' last speech to the Consumer Electronics Show as Microsoft chairman left the audience underwhelmed, New York Times blogger Saul Hansell reports. Gates had few exciting new developments to report and instead chose to speak of the "digital decade"—hardly breaking news for the audience at a...

Gates: Vista Is ‘Very Successful’

Outgoing head defends Microsoft's new OS

(Newser) - On his way out the door, Bill Gates is defending Windows Vista, the OS that has failed to woo consumers away from Microsoft's older Windows XP. "I think a lot of people would say it was the best new product of the year,” Gates said in an interview...

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