Microsoft Corp. co-founder and chairman Bill Gates said Thursday he would opt out of a daily role in the software giant by July 2008 to spend more time with his foundation.

"This was a hard decision for me," said Gates, who founded the world's largest software company with childhood friend Paul Allen.

Gates will continue on as the company's chairman after transferring his duties over a two-year period.

"I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever," he said in Redmond, Washington State.

The company's Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately assume the title of chief software architect and begin working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities, to ensure a smooth transition.

Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer and will work with Gates in those areas.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charity devoted to promoting health and education projects around the world, was founded by Gates and his wife in 2000. Enditem

 
Backgrounder: Gates and Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said on Thursday he will transfer his day-to-day duties over a two-year period while continuing on as the company's chairman.

Gates said in a statement that he made the "hard decision" so as to concentrate on the charitable work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates, 50, founded the world's largest software company with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers.

Gates took Microsoft public in 1986 and was the company's chairman and CEO until 2000, when he assumed the role of chief software architect. Also in 2000, he and his wife formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose assets now total 29.1 billion U.S. dollars.

For the past six years Gates has focused on Microsoft's software development as the company's chairman and chief software architect.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries.

The book was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks.

Microsoft had revenues of 39.79 billion U.S. dollars for the fiscal year ending June 2005, and employs more than 61,000 people in 102 countries and regions.

Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.

Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately 6.2 billion U.S. dollars on research and development in the 2005 fiscal year.

Editor: Yan