Gates leaves Microsoft

A lot of people hate Bill Gates for monopolizing the software industry, and heck knows I've seen my share of Gates-followers and Steve Jobs-followers going at it in a classic Internet Flame War. Bill Gates retirement from Microsoft will no doubt cause a stir (what the heck am I talking about, people will be ALL OVER this) and we're sure to hear from all the loyalists and haters out there.

To get straight to the point and leave all the rivalry aside, let's fast-forward the Gates VS Jobs flame war.

Setting that aside, here are my thoughts on Bill Gates's retirement from Microsoft:

Bill Gates' decision to loosen his grip on Microsoft so he could focus more on his philanthropic ideals is not a surprising thing for me. All men who reached their billions at a considerably young age tend to look for different ways of fulfillment. Most contribute to noble causes like fighting AIDS, Cancer or poverty. In Bill's case, he vows to actually concentrate on that rather than just contribute.

So what will happen to Microsoft?

Well Bill Gates is going to leave his baby to Steve Ballmer and a team of executives including Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie.

I doubt that anything drastic will actually happen to Microsoft. One of the worst things just transpired with the Yahoo-Microsoft negotiation fallout and unless Murphy's law works on billionaires (which I highly doubt), Microsoft wouldn't experience anything devastating anytime soon. It's still too early to predict what would happen in the next few years but it's safe to assume that Bill Gates wouldn't totally leave the company. He'd still be there, we can all count on that. If you're one of the founders of a multi-billion company, you wouldn't totally leave it regardless of how much money you already have.

Oh and because I'm such a big sap, I just have to put this little snippet in:

Ballmer said he almost quit soon after joining Microsoft because his parents didn't want him to drop out of Stanford.

Gates responded: "You don't get it. You don't get it. You don't get it. We're going to put a computer on every desk, in every home," Ballmer said.

- Bloomberg.com

(now doesn't that make you go... "aawwww...." ?)

Top 10 Billionaires: Gates booted out of no. 1

Kind of old news but what the hey, I'd like to occasionally look at the list of top 10 billionaires. You know, for inspiration.

As a kid there had been no doubt in my head that Bill Gates was the richest man on Earth. As a kid, I wanted to be him and fantasized about living in a house that Bill Gates has. But as I got older, I realized that there are a lot of rich people on Earth.

This year's Top 10 Billionaires and what they do:

Warren Buffett
- is an American stock investor known throughout the globe. He is also the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Carlos Slim Helu & family
- the key to his success is wireless communication. Slim struck gold when he was able to make a deal with Yahoo that will make him the provider of mobile Web services to 16 countries.

William Gates III
- the man needs no introduction. Gates is no longer the world's richest man probably because of the unsuccessful negotiations with Yahoo. (Yahoo again huh?) But Gates is now focusing more on his philanthropic duties to society.

Lakshmi Mittal
- engaged in the manufacturing business, Mittal is heads the world's largest steel production. He just delivered 580 tons to be used in the construction of the World Trade Center memorial.

The rest of the billionaires:

Mukesh Ambani
Anil Ambani
(Yes they are brothers)

Ingvar Kamprad & family
KP Singh
Oleg Deripaska
Karl Albrecht

The top 3 in the list all had their fortune self-made while the rest in the list are mostly inherited (and growing) fortune. It just goes to show us that fortune is more likely made than fate.

Perks of Call Center Jobs in the Philippines

One call center company in the Philippines is offering rest and relaxation for their agents. No, it's not in the form of those little couches and bean bags in the quarters. No, it's not in the form of instant coffee either. They take employee care to the next level. Now, overstressed and overworked call center agents can go to the spa located in house!

A call center company in the Philippines recently opened a spa right inside their premises for the exclusive use of their employees. This is in line with their efforts to ease the stress of their hardworking employees. I seriously think that that's taking it to the next level. While most companies would let the team leaders take care of the bonding and all the "cooling off" this particular company actually took the extra mile and set up a spa inside their own premises.

And that's not all, they have actually installed a gym as well! Now I've heard about call center agents getting fatter. I used to think this is partly because of the kind of lifestyle they have to get themselves into with regards to the changing schedule. A lot of them have to rely on fastfood for their daily nutrition and they have to drink tons and tons of coffee too. So having a gym might not be so bad an idea after all.

Call centers in the Philippines have been on the rise and the industry shows no signs of stopping. To cater to the needs of the every-growing employees of call center companies, they have to take extra measures to ensure the health (which would translate to productivity) of these call center agents.

Effects on the Host in Offshore Outsourcing

In this 8-minute video on Offshore Outsourcing as viewed by an academic, Professor Bhattacharya said one thing that struck me. We talk a lot about offshore outsourcing and how it has a positive effect on the companies that do employ this. We have broken down the good points of offshore outsourcing but exactly does it do the host country?

Prof. Bhattacharya wanted to talk about outsourcing in China when it comes to manufacturing but couldn't because of language and culture barriers. However he was able to give a brief overview about the leading host country in IT services, which is none other than India. In my opinion, growth has a possibility of being inhibited if host companies keep depending on outsourcing as a source of work. That's why I think it's good that India is actually developing their own ways and reaching out to other countries for their own brand of offshore outsourcing business functions.

As for hosts like China and the Philippines, we have yet to actually see them reverse their situation and develop their own methods to export to other countries but perhaps in time we will see call centers set up by the Philippines in areas other than their homeland and consequently giving jobs to other host countries.