Bill Gates: Inspired leader or terrible tyrant?

Source: Technology Digital

Date :6/27/2008 6:18:22 AM

The Bill Gates story is well-documented – the vision, the success, the controversy – but as he departs Microsoft, how will the history books view his tenure with the world’s biggest software company?

Microsoft has, in no small way, changed the world. It’s an extraordinary statement to make, but the company has grown from the spark in the mind of a Harvard drop-out to one of the biggest brands the world has ever known. And it’s not been an easy ride for William Henry Gates III either, but thanks to a string of calculated risks, a dose of luck and an uncompromising manner, Microsoft has emerged as a leader in a market that almost nobody saw coming.

Today, of course, it would be impossible to picture a world without it. There are billions of active Microsoft users worldwide, perhaps more than Gates – even with his limitless vision – could have ever anticipated.

But how much of the success can be put down to Gates’ ability to inspire, and how much comes from shrewd business opportunism and a cutthroat manner?

Microsoft never seems to step too far away from danger and controversy. Perhaps this is a testament to its desire to deliver the best possible solution, whatever the cost, but the company’s market dominance has got it into trouble on more than a few occasions.

Competitors, courts and governments alike have all clashed with the software juggernaut a number of times, each one accusing Microsoft of abusing its dominant position to marginalize the opposition and create an unassailable monopoly. And every time, Gates has steadfastly denied all of the accusations. So far as he is concerned, if these companies can’t compete, then they should get out of the way.

“Velvet sweatshop”

Life inside the company is reputed to be equally fierce, many equating it to a “velvet sweatshop” – a term that has now become popularized among many current and former Microsoft employees. It was a term that first appeared in the Seattle Times, and refers to the unbelievable limits that employees are pushed to, despite numerous perks.

It would seem, therefore, that the company ethos and the constant demand for results is nothing more than extension of Gates’ own drive and ambition, but what of the man himself? The company has come under very close scrutiny during its meteoric rise, but conflicting reports have arisen over its iconic leader. Some paint him as an uncompromising dictator, unable to settle for anything less than absolute competence and cooperation, yet other cast a kinder picture, pointing to his ongoing philanthropic efforts and his willingness to enter into debate and discussion with anyone at the company. The truth? Well, it’s probably a mix of the two.

Gates’ most infamously overheard remark is almost certainly: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” – a response that has become Microsoft folklore, and is regarded by many as a badge of honor. Despite seeming unnecessarily confrontational, the truth is, Gates has mellowed a lot since starting out. Initially branded as a fiery upstart, Gates’ management style – though he still demands results and efficiency – has become a great deal more flexible and forgiving.

It seems a massive change from the man who once would go to any length to ensure success – including selling his software at detrimentally low prices from the outset, just to ensure that Microsoft reached as much of the market at possible. This was certainly the case in its deals with IBM and Amstrad, and because of some shrewd – perhaps even dangerous – business tactics, the Microsoft acorn was given the time and space to flourish.

From reports and footage of his youth, Gates appears little more than an impatient youth, disillusioned with the technology dinosaurs of the time – IBM and the like – but it turns out he was right, and they were wrong. Critics at the time thought that there wasn’t a viable market for software, that actually trying to separate the software and hardware industries was financial suicide, but Microsoft thought differently and built an empire because of it.

Where to from here?

The time seems ripe for Gates to move on, with his philanthropic projects burgeoning and the mighty Microsoft pedestal is starting to rock: No longer is it considered the new revolutionary force in technology and computing. It has become one of the great dinosaurs that it aimed to displace, and a new challenge is on the horizon. When Microsoft emerged, what ensued was a great battle for the desktop – a battle in which it was superbly successful. The Internet changed all that. New faces and a new challenge emerged, with the first decade of the 21st Century looking increasingly like it belongs to the Googles of this world. Even Microsoft’s dominance in the operating system market seems unsettled, with the massive growth in interest for open source solutions, such as Linux-based platforms.

Gates will always have his critics: Those who suggest that he was ruthless in securing market dominance for Microsoft, and that he led the company in abusing its position. But Microsoft wouldn’t have succeeded without his extraordinary vision, and many will have developed a softened view of the man with the billions of dollars of philanthropic work that he and his wife have already done.

But then again, as Sir Alan Sugar, head of Amstrad, so succinctly says: “He has taken over the world, end of story. Live with it. Accept it. It’s done.”