According to IT Jungle, Bill Gates is poised to leave Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropic work. The website records : “… he is poised to take a final bow saying, ‘I won’t be back..’ Yet, before he can leave, he has to pull off a corporate hat trick, launching new versions of Internet Explorer, Office, and Windows. Unfortunately, Windows Vista could trip him at the exit.”

Now I don’t know if this is supposition, rumour going around, or just plain guesswork, but it does make sense. Gates must be aware that Microsoft will never be able to maintain current revenues from the desktop in this Web 2.0 era. And advertising a la Google will not replace it either. Thus, it must be past its peak. He would not want to stay around to preside over its inevitable declining years. So the logic is there.

As for the reference to Windows Vista tripping him up, they mean that the move from raster graphics to vector will require much greater hardware resources than most will be able to afford.

The website continues : And for Bill Gates, undoubtedly suffering from terminal tedium, now he can turn to the remarkable Steve Ballmer and his other shareholders and say, “Hasta la vista.”

You heard it there first.