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Gates to transition out of Microsoft operations.

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Microsoft Corporation has announced that Bill Gates will leave his day-to-day role in the company. The departure, occurring in a two-year phase out, will result in a step up for Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie, who will become chief software architect. Microsoft reported that Ozzie will work very closely with Gates to ensure that the company faces a smooth transfer of power by July, 2008 when Gates fully transitions out of his current role.

Gates will remain chairman of Microsoft Corp., and stay on as an adviser, but he plans to work more intimately with his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Our business and technical leadership has never been stronger,” Gates said in a press release, “and Microsoft is well-prepared for success in the years ahead.”

Ozzie and Craig Mundie, who will take over as chief research and strategy officer, will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.

Gates started Microsoft, the worldwide leader in software and operating systems, in 1975. The company employs 63,000 employees in over 100 countries and reports annual sales of over $40 billion. In 2000, amidst crisis and multiple anti-trust lawsuits, gates and his wife founded the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. The foundation now has assets of nearly $30 billion.

Microsoft’s stock is down slightly in after-hours trading.

Shuttle taking off

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Shuttle Computers is preparing for one hot summer, with three innovative product launches planned for June-July.

The most exciting of those is the Shuttle M2000, a home entertainment PC featuring wireless inputs, an Intel Core Duo processor with Viiv Technology, gigabit Ethernet and a DVD +/-R/RW burner.

I’m sure that sounds like a lot to swallow so let’s take a look at the M2000.

The M2000 is a media center. It seeks to replace a good chunk of your existing home theater components by providing an all-in-one digital video recorder, HDTV tuner, radio tuner, DVD player and audio/MP3 player.

It’s only three inches tall and 17 inches wide, making it roughly the size of a first generation DVD player. That is the truly amazing part of this product. Shuttle has squeezed optical audio, a/v inputs and outputs, digital video out, component video out, a TV/FM tuner card, a front panel LCD display and your typical firewire, USB and Ethernet ports (and 802.11b/g wifi just for good measure) into one of the smallest HTPC packages I’ve ever seen.

Shuttle’s new home entertainment PC is being received well so far. CNET gave it a 7.0 out of 10. It lost points for lack of expandability and for not having enough RAM. I agree with the RAM part—the M2000 comes with 512MB of DDRII-533 standard and it really should be 1GB minimum. However, I disagree with “lack of expansion options” being a negative factor. You don’t buy a Shuttle PC to expand it. Apple users don’t buy an iMac to expand it and both Apple and Shuttle manage to squeeze a lot into a spall space. It’s not mean to be ripped open and rebuilt.

Sheila Dy is the Public Relations Manager for Shuttle Computers. I recently asked her about the M2000 and their marketing efforts.

“We have a few viral marketing efforts around the M2000,” Dy said. She also credits the success of Shuttle’s newsletter and their efforts to reach out to media relations groups for the success of the M2000 buzz.

Shuttle has two more releases up its sleeve this summer. The X100, ultra-slim PC will feature a duo 1.8GHz and 1GB DDR2 standard. The P2 2700 is a gaming PC with a 64 bit processor that can load up to 8GB of DDR2.


Shuttle M2000 Full Specs

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