Bill Gates' e-mail to employees

I wanted to take a moment to share some of my thoughts, as well.

As Steve's mail indicates, I've decided that two years from now, in July 2008, I want to devote more time to the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Right now and for the next two years, my full-time job is here at Microsoft, and my part-time job remains the Foundation. Beginning in July 2008, I will switch that, to be full-time at the Foundation, while remaining involved with Microsoft as Chairman and an advisor on key development projects on a part-time basis.

To prepare for this change, we have a well-thought-out transition process. Again, I will continue at Microsoft full-time for the next two years, but over the course of those two years, my day-to-day responsibilities will shift to a team of incredible technical leaders who are already doing amazing things at the company.

I feel very lucky that we've got extraordinary technical leaders at the company, like Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie, who can step up to assume the roles that I've played. I've known Ray for the last 20 years, and he has created some of the most important developments in the industry. Craig and I have worked together for nearly 14 years, and he's been a technical visionary and a leader on policy throughout his career. With Ray and Craig stepping up, I feel very confident that the technical stewardship of Microsoft is in very capable hands.

And I feel the same way about our business leadership. Our core businesses are strong and we have a clear vision for how we will meet new challenges and opportunities. We just had our first billion quarter, and we continue to generate almost a billion dollars in profit every month. We are about to launch breakthrough versions of Windows, Office and Exchange, which are already generating a lot of excitement.

Six years ago, Steve and I made a major transition when he stepped up to be CEO. He's done a fantastic job by every measure, whether it's the people he's brought in, the new ways he's running the company, or just the objective results - like doubling our revenue in six years. Steve has driven us to make bold bets on things like Xbox, Real Time Communications, business applications, IPTV, and many others including the Live platform. Steve is the best CEO I could imagine for Microsoft - he is changing the company in ways it needs to be changed. He is bringing in new leadership at all levels. And, he is focused on the long-term - making Microsoft a great company not just today but for decades to come.

With Steve's organization of the company into three divisions led by our incredible presidents - Jeff Raikes, Robbie Bach, and Kevin Johnson - we've laid a solid foundation for greater autonomy, agility and entrepreneurial spirit in our product groups. And with the great addition of Kevin Turner as our COO, our leadership team has never been stronger.

Our deep technical strength is one of the key reasons I believe Microsoft is well-positioned for great success in the years ahead. I'm very pleased that in addition to Ray, Craig, David and Rick, Steve has asked J Allard, Bob Muglia, and Steven Sinofsky to play an expanded role in shaping the company's business and technology strategy. And when you consider all of our remarkable Technical Fellows, Distinguished Engineers, all of the brilliant researchers working at our MSR labs around the world, and all the technical people in the business groups, I can safely say that our technical talent has never been stronger or deeper.

Obviously, this has been a very hard decision for me. Microsoft will always be a huge part of my life, and I'm lucky to have two callings that are so important and so challenging.

On a personal note, I know that my work on global health and education issues at the Foundation would never have been possible without the enormous success of Microsoft, so I want to thank you and all of the employees past and present who have contributed so much to this company.

For these last 31 years, I've had the best job in the world. I've worked with some of the brightest and most passionate people in the world. Together, we've built a great company whose products have empowered people around the world.

We're only at the beginning of what software can do, and I'm excited about the impact that Microsoft can have. I'm going to take an extended vacation this summer with my family, but I'll be back in late August and I look forward to working with all of you for the next two years and beyond, to make those dreams a reality.

Thanks.

Bill

我们知道，比尔.盖茨宣布将在两年后将主要精力放在他与妻子的慈善基金会上，而只保留微软主席和顾问的角色。同时，人们对于鲍尔默的在职也颇有意见，认为其也应该在二至五年里离开微软。而且，人们难免会有疑虑，在比尔.盖茨退居幕后之后，微软的领导层能够继续微软的辉煌吗？

在一封比尔.盖茨给员工们的一封电子邮件中向我们展示了这一切。

我想我最好还是花些时间分享一下我的一些想法。

因为鲍尔默的邮件表明，我已经决定从现在起的两年，也就是到2008年7月，我想把我的更多时间奉献给比尔和梅琳达盖茨基金会。

现在及接下来的两年里，我的专职工作就是在这里——微软，而我的其他时间会放在基金会上。从2008年7月开始，这种情况会反过来，我的专职工作是在基金会，而剩余时间会作为微软的主席和关键开发项目的顾问。

为了准备这次交接，我们仔细考虑了这次交接过程。而且，我将继续全职在微软工作两年时间，在那之后，我的日常职责就会转换到一组难以置信的技术领导人中，他们已经在公司里做出了许多引人注目的成绩。

我觉得很幸运，我们公司拥有非凡的技术领导者，像Ray Ozzie和Craig Mundie，他会接替我现在扮演的角色。我认识Ray已经20年了，他创造了一些最重要的开发工作。Craig和我已经一起工作了14年，他的整个职业生涯一直是一位技术预言家和策略上领军人物。随着Ray和Craig的提升，我对于这些非常能干的人的掌握微软的技术工作很有信心。

对于我们的商业领导层也是同样。我们的核心商业是强健的，对于我们将遇到怎样的新挑战和机会我们很清楚。我们第一个季度已经收入120亿美元，我们将继续产生大约每月10亿美元的利润。我们即将在Windows、Office和Exchange产品上进行突破，而且已经产生了许多令人激动的成果。

六年前，当史蒂夫提升为CEO时，他和我做了一次重大的交接。从各种尺度来看，他所做的工作都是显著的，无论是他介绍引进的人、运行公司的新方式，还是客观目标——六年中的收入加倍。史蒂夫已经驱使我们在许多事情上加上了重重的一笔赌注，如：Xbox、实时通讯、商业应用程序、IPTV和许多包括Live平台在内的许多其他方面。史蒂夫是我能想象到的微软最好的CEO，他正在以需要变化的方式改变着这个公司。他正在介绍引进所有级别的新领导层，并且，他将注意力集中在长期目标上——让微软成为不仅是现在，而且还是未来几十年伟大的公司。

随着史蒂夫的公司组织进入由我们杰出的总裁——Jeff Raikes、Robbie Bach和Kevin Johnson——领导的三个部门——我们已经为我们产品组中更大的独立性、机敏快捷和企业活力布置了一个坚实的基础。随着Kevin Turner成为我们的COO，我们的领导团队变得从未有过的强大。

我们深厚的技术力量是我相信微软在未来能够取得更大成功的关键因素。我很高兴，除了Ray、Craig、David和Rick外，史蒂夫已经让J Allard、Bob Muglia和Steven Sinofsky在修整公司商业和技术策略方面扮演了扩展角色。当你想想我们遍及世界的所有非凡的技术伙伴、卓越的工程师、所有在MSR工作的有才气的研究员们以及所有商业组中的技术人员时，我可以确切的说，我们的技术天才已经是前所未有的更加强大和深厚。

显然，这对我来说一直是一个非常困难的决定。微软将一如既往是我生命中巨大的一部分，我很幸运我有两个如此重要和富有挑战性的职业。

在一份个人笔记中，我了解到我在基金会对于全球健康和教育问题的的工作没有微软更大的成功是不可能的，所以我想感谢你们和所有过去和现在为微软做过大量奉献的员工们。

过去32年，我一直做着世界上最好的工作。我与世界上最聪明、最具有热情的人们一同工作，我们一起创建了一个伟大的公司，它的产品授权给全世界的人们所使用。

我们还处在软件所能的初级阶段，并且我对于微软能够拥有的影响感到激动。我将同我的家人在这个夏季度一个长假，但是在8月底我会回来，我希望在接下来的两年里和更长时间里与你们一同工作，为了让那些梦想成为现实。

谢谢。

比尔

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