Gates and the code-jockey elite
C|Net | at | by Mike
Five years ago this week, Bill Gates passed the CEO baton to Steve Ballmer.
Microsoft's co-founder left the job he had held since 1975 to take on a new role as chief software architect. The idea was to free him up to concentrate full-time on new technology. The business was changing, and Microsoft, no longer a scrappy start-up, needed to chart new directions in the face of nascent challenges in the post-dot-com era.