I know, I know, it’s a bit of old news from the past week, but I wanted to be sure that this wasn’t some hoax so I waited until I knew for sure that it was real.  For a 52-year old, I was still skeptical about him retiring, but I guess with all the success and money he had, what reason would he have to still be working right?  So what’s next?  Gates says that his core competencies are in software and technology, particularly in biotech, as a hobbyist, and he goes on saying that he could never go and make a world-class contribution in another field besides the aforementioned.  Also, his passion in philanthropy by running the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at fighting poverty all around the world, will also be where most of his time will go to.  So let’s see which one it’s really going to be…

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was set Friday for his last day of full-time work at Microsoft – the company he founded 33 years ago on a hunch that personal computers would become an integral part of everyday life. The world’s largest software company said that it was not planning any public events to observe the transition, though the change would be marked by internal events. Gates, 52, will continue to hold the title of non-executive chairman and work about one day a week at Microsoft. He intends to devote the rest of his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the wealthiest charity in the world, which is aimed at improving health care around the world and reducing extreme poverty.

Gates handed over his role as Microsoft chief executive to his long-time partner Steve Ballmer in 2000, when Gates became the company’s chief software architect. Under a carefully planned succession programme, Gate’s duties will be taken over by two top Microsoft executives. Ray Ozzie will be in charge of day-to-day management issues, while Craig Mundie will be in charge of long-term planning. The company, whose Windows operating system powers some 90 per cent of the world’s personal computers, has a market capitalization of about 260 billion dollars and employs more than 78,000 people in 103 countries.

Links: “Doomsday Seed Vault” in the Arctic Built by Gates