Bill Gates: A lame duck industrialist?

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The loss of Gates while he remained a major part of the day-to-day running of the business would likely have had catastrophic implications for Microsoft's share price, value of stock options and and staff morale.

Microsoft is not the only company to have managed such a transition in the technology sector. Sun Microsystems has seen the chief executive role move successfully from co-founder Scott McNealy to Jonathan Schwartz, while Google's co-founder Larry Page successfully handed over the chief executive's post to Eric Schmidt prior to the company's floatation.

Of course, there are several that have not gone so well. Dell struggled following the departure of Michael Dell, and only since he returned to the role of chief executive have the company's fortunes recovered. Similar moves at Yahoo, where co-founder Jerry Yang has been called back into service as chief executive to restructure the company and stave off the advances of Microsoft.

Then there is Apple, a company that almost imploded after Steve Jobs was ousted from his role as chairman. Following his return to the company as chief executive in 1997, the company underwent a massive restructuring overseen by Jobs and is now more successful and profitable than it ever was during his absence.

For Microsoft, the process is almost complete. Gates delivered a low-key, almost ceremonial presentation to developers earlier this week, with his remaining public appearances between now and his last day largely PR-driven, his remaining time as chairman similar to that of a US president in the final days before the end of a second term. He's still in the job but unable to do anything of substance.

Ten years ago, thoughts of Microsoft immediately brought about a connection with Bill Gates and his accomplishments. Ten years from now, memories of the Gates era at Microsoft will likely be almost as low-key as the contribution of co-founder Paul Allan to Microsoft's early years.

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