ccraig
East Coast Site Editor

No more Bill to kick around

news
Jun 30, 20081 min

Robert X. Cringely is feeling the departure of Bill Gates from full-time employment at Microsoft very keenly. After all, the world’s third richest man easily ranks as Cringe’s most-pummeled target over the years.

Cringe gives a nod to the various Bill Gates tributes, including InfoWorld’s own musings about possible futures for Microsoft. But more importantly, who will replace Bill for sheer entertainment value?

“Aside from The Mad Ballmer it seems all my old targets have gone to ground. You hardly hear a peep out of Larry Ellison these days, though Oracle’s appetite for acquisition hasn’t waned. Darl McBride seems to have crawled back under a rock, with only SCO’s delusions of patent grandeur to keep him warm. Steve Jobs is hanging tough, of course, but did you see how scrawny he looked at the last keynote? It seems almost unfair to pick on him in his wizened state.”

Billy, we hardly knew ye.