Amid cheers and tears, Gates says goodbye
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Bill Gates wiped the tears from his face, bowed his head to the applause -- and ended an era.
Microsoft's 52-year-old icon worked his final day as a full-time executive Friday, more than three decades after he dropped out of college to found the company with his high school friend. As he prepared to depart, Gates reminisced about Microsoft's successes, and its controversies.
"Even the times that were the toughest, in some ways those are the ones that bond you the most -- when IBM decides to attack you, or when some legal ruling isn't quite right," Gates told employees at an internal event, to laughter. "And you have to do a press conference afterwards."