Hacker News Reader

Comment by sunjain | Hacker News Reader

Ballmer should have been gone instead of Ray. I will not be surprised if Bill comes back(aka like what Jobs did when he came back to Apple). Granted Microsoft may not be in as bad a shape as Apple was when Jobs came back and Gates is no Jobs, but I am sure with Ballmer incharge for few more years, it might get that bad.

View on HN

Very unlikely, I think. Jobs was forced out and felt he had a lot to prove. Gates left voluntarily as the richest man in the world. There's very little chance of him coming back.

Yes, Gates has nothing to gain by returning, but an awful lot to lose

With all the philanthropy he's involved in, I would say the developing world would have a lot to lose also.

I have little respect for the company he created, but a lot of respect for what he's doing with his money.

A friend of mine recently opined that "I never imagined I'd live in a world where Bill Gates is practically a walking saint and Steve Jobs has become The Man."

Microsoft Unlimited Potential program

http://www.microsoft.com/About/corporatecitizenship/en-us/ab...

Microsoft offers volume discounts for charities and Education.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/licensing-options/for-ind...

It would actually look rather egotistical for him to come back. Even in Jobs case I think there's more a series of serendipitous events that rewarded intuition. Apple's success is a product of hard work and competitive complacency in the market.

I think Bill's passion has shifted too far away from Microsoft's business for him to ever come back in earnest. I assume that's why he left in the first place.

Jobs, on the other hand, was immersed in the same tech/philosophy at NeXT that he would subsequently use to revitalize Apple.

Why the hell would he come back, to what must be one of the most annoying and stressful jobs in the world, at least at this time for Microsoft. He can only lose, he can't win. Even if he does well, he would just have put Microsoft back on track to where it was before, and if he fails he gets a lot of grief.

And why would he give up all his projects and free time, for no gain at all.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com