>In many ways, the change is still not a bad idea, because Gates has been pretty ill-suited to the tasks of the job. I’ll say it if no one else will — he’s a te

>In many ways, the change is still not a bad idea, because Gates has been pretty ill-suited to the tasks of the job. I’ll say it if no one else will — he’s a terrible schmoozer of investors, is not someone who cottons to kissing up to Wall Street and, well, he’s still awkward around the niceties required in such a job. (By the way, this is the part of Gates I like!) How often does Microsoft need to go to outside investors for money? It's obviously not in as good a position as, say, ten years ago, but the company still makes lots of money. Over the years the big problem has been Microsoft has been unable to find good places to spend all its extra cash.