Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has emphasized that he's "not satisfied" with the software giant's innovations, especially in the smartphone market.
During an interview with "CBS This Morning," the Microsoft chairman was asked whether he was happy with Steve Ballmer's performance as the company's CEO. Although he stated that "many amazing things" have come to fruition under Ballmer's leadership over the last couple of years, Gates stressed that he's not satisfied with the firm's innovations.
"Well, he and I are two of the most self-critical people ... you can imagine," said Gates. "And here were a lot of amazing things that Steve's leadership got done with the company in the last year. Windows 8 is key to the future, the Surface computer. Bing, people are seeing as a better search product, Xbox."
"But is ... is it enough?" he added. "No, he and I are not satisfied that in terms of, you know, breakthrough things, that we're doing everything possible."
Gates pointed towards Microsoft's position in the smartphone sector as an example of the company's shortcomings. It currently accounts for 2.4 percent of the market with its Windows Phone platform.
"There's a lot of things like cell phones where we didn't get out in the lead very early. We didn't miss cell phones, but the way we went about it didn't allow us to get the leadership. So it's clearly a mistake."
Gates' comments were made during an interview pertaining to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, where he has donated a substantial amount of money for philanthropy since stepping down as Microsoft's CEO in 2008. During December 2012, he had a net worth of $65 billion, which is after donating more than $28 billion towards numerous charitable causes.
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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house70 Please, Mr. Gates, just kick Ballmer out and either come back or put someone competent in charge!Reply -
memadmax Translation: Win8 sucks, if it did not suck then ol' Billy bob would be saying Win8 is gonna pave the way for the future and on and on and on... AND OF COURSE THE SHEEPLE WILL TAKE THIS ARTICLE AT FACE VALUE AND SAY "IT DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WIN 8 IS BAD!"Reply
That's what subtle criticism is for...
Anyways...
Face it, Win8 is another vista.
Fire Ballmer and have a bonfire with the remaining copies of win8.... -
g00fysmiley really the problem with windows mobile is whiel some companies will at least lie and say they will give you updates... with windows phone you are SoL . windows 7 phone then they release windows phone 7.x and none of the old vertions get new function, then no windows phone 8 upgrades for those who just bought windows phone 7 that came out as few months before it... the hardware will run it but they don't push it to be updates expecting you to buy a new device.... I'll stick with evetything android and in the nexus line to stay updated and keep windows 7 on my home pc's thanks :) now pull an apple and promise updates for 3 years and start following through and i think m$ would be happy to see an increase in market shareReply -
halcyon I use Win8 daily on my new 2012 XPS 15. It frustrates me regularly. Win7 doesn't want to install on that laptop and that's really a shame.Reply -
gilgamex memadmaxTranslation: Win8 sucks, if it did not suck then ol' Billy bob would be saying Win8 is gonna pave the way for the future and on and on and on... AND OF COURSE THE SHEEPLE WILL TAKE THIS ARTICLE AT FACE VALUE AND SAY "IT DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WIN 8 IS BAD!"That's what subtle criticism is for...Anyways...Face it, Win8 is another vista.Fire Ballmer and have a bonfire with the remaining copies of win8....Reply
How is that some sort of revelation? If Windows 8 was really good then of course "ol' Billy bob" would say it's good because it is the truth no? Logic? Hello?
And I love all your descriptive details on why Windows 8 is bad, man, how foolish was I to not have cited what you said about....oh I don't know...that one part where you said absolutely nothing of value about it, changed my life.
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3ogdy Windows Phone interface is DUMB - did you notice Android going the Microsoft way and Microsoft going back to the early 2000s?Reply
Android phones struggle to have an improved interface closer to that of (real) Windows on computers (real= EXCEPT Windows 8). Microsoft is going the dumb way with a RETARDED INTERFACE.
There you go, pay the price, Steve Dumbmer. -
Vorador2 halcyonI use Win8 daily on my new 2012 XPS 15. It frustrates me regularly. Win7 doesn't want to install on that laptop and that's really a shame.Reply
It can be done. But you need to inject the drivers on the installation disk, not the easiest task. But i managed to do it with a XPS 13. -
frank_drebin what is the incentive for me to spend money again on Win8 if just a year ago i built a PC with Win7 ??? Teh answer is NONE.Reply -
ddpruitt Replythe Surface computer
So Bill Gates has no clue as to what's going on at Microsoft. It's a table, even MS refers to it as a tablet. His entire speech is BS. -
achoo2 It's pretty hard to be critical of a man whose well-funded mission is to bring good health and good toilets to children everywhere.Reply