With Gates going part time what will this mean for Tablet PC future? |
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Articles are breaking (see MSNBC and CNET thanks Warner) that by 2008 Bill Gates will be going to part time status at Microsoft and full time with his foundation to give away his money:
Gates, ranked as the world’s richest individual with Microsoft stock and other assets valued at $50 billion, reiterated Thursday that he intends to give away the vast bulk of his wealth before he dies.
This is very noble and I’m glad to see he’s doing this, but relatively speaking he’s still a pretty young guy. Does he think it’s going to take that long to give away his money?
One of the first things I thought about after thinking happy thoughts for Gate’s goals was him being the cheerleader and primary believer in Tablet PCs and how these dreams could be negatively impacted in his absence.
Gate’s dream of the $500 Tablet PC unrealized?
Price remains the primary complaint for prospective Tablet users. To my knowledge, the UMPC $500-1000 pricepoint hasn’t even been realized yet. Without Bill championing this cause will his full time replacement be as passionate about the tablet?
We already know the tablet OS is being folded into Vista, as will be the Media Center. I’m interested in reading and seeing some discussion about the future of the tablet with the main cherleader planning to take a lesser role. This would be a great time for Ray Ozzie to write a new blog entry detailing how the Tablet PC is every bit as important to him as it is to Gates. I’m not sure where Ballmer sits on the tablet.
I’m not trying to spread FUD here. I’m legitimately concerned that because the tablet is being seen as a niche business device and market, it might not continue to receive the support it needs to continue to evolve. I like the tablet, despite mine not being in 100% working order. I’d hate to think because the guy who I think believes in them the most won’t be around the drive will suffer.
Now I would really, really like to see Apple build the iTablet.
Related Posts- Gates dreams of $500 student tablet
- Scoble interviews Bill Gates
- Going virtually postal over Bill Gates email box
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- ‘proprietary’ content blocked from live streaming video during PDC 2005 keynote
- Gates and Jobs sitting side by side trading memories
Who Will Take Bill Gates’ Role As A Champion Of The Tablet PC?
Trackback by GottaBeMobile.com — June 15, 2006 @ 9:16 pm PST
[…] Most Hmm-worthy posts from June 10 - June 16, 2006 - Money changes everything: Scoble leaving Microsoft (10) [june 11] - eBay AdContext in “coming months” (7) [june 12] - Putting Google Spreadsheets to some use (0) [june 12] - Nearly 1 in 4 age 18-50 have a tattoo (4) [june 12] - *War of the short URL worlds (12) [june 13] - The Scoblelizer Replacement pool odds (5) [june 13] - I’m 24% cynical, you? (4) [june 14] - New Netscape.com righteous or ripoff of Digg debate begins (4) [june 15] - With Gates going part time what will this mean for Tablet PC future? (1) [june 15] - MySpace plans search cage match using GYM (1) [june 16] […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Hmmcast #12: Scoble leaving, Gates going part time, Digg vs. Netscape — June 16, 2006 @ 3:10 pm PST
[…] TDavid asks the excellent question of what this means for Tablet PCs. Gates was the pioneer and pushed Microsoft’s major support of the form factor, a money-losing embaressment that was ahead of its time. Without him, there is a good chance Microsoft will drop support and the Tablet and UMPC platforms may die out for a half-decade or so. […]
Pingback by » Gates Following Scoble Out The Door InsideMicrosoft - part of the Blog News Channel — June 21, 2006 @ 2:50 am PST