Bill Gates:How a Geek Changed the World 盖茨宣布退休

Fiona Bruce presents the definitive profile of Bill Gates as he prepares to step down next week from full-time involvement with microsoft.

Next week, Bill Gates is stepping down from Microsoft to focus on his charity. Its goal -- to rid the world of diseases like malaria. By giving away around 30 billion dollars, he is always welcome in the corridors of power.

Is he supportive of the work you do in the foundation?

Yes, I'd say that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have been two of the best world leaders on these issues both in terms of giving them feasibility and increasing their generosity.

As well as dropping in on Downing Street, Bill's got a packed schedule of business meetings. His new agenda means he is even busier than ever.

We have got a meeting with a number of chief information officers from big UK companies. From there he actually then meets with the Sunday Times business editor. Board meeting is three minutes, which is... (laugh)

What can you say in three minutes? Maybe hail Bill Gates, he said "Oh."

I'd like to introduce Bill Gates.

Chairman Bill may soon be spending less time in the office, but the billionaire sales rep can't resist pitching the latest Microsoft product -- touch recognition technology.

I, I picked a particular application here just to show you how touch might work. Underneath here this is just a Windows personal computer that has a camera and some magic software, so it's watching my fingers.

For the boss of Microsoft, it's a time of transition. The geek who transformed the computer industry is being rebooted, and the 2008 version of Bill Gates could have an even bigger impact.

Bill Gates is standing down from the company he built into one of the most profitable in the world. Having made his fortune, he is about to embark on the next stage of his career -- giving it away. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is growing in size and ambition, almost as fast as Microsoft did. But it's a family affair, to which the couple have promised to give almost all their fortune. By donating 30 billion dollars to charity, Gates is now sharing a global platform with presidents, prime ministers, and even rock stars.

This wealth, we've chosen not to pass it to our children or, you know, buy all sorts of ventures or whatever. We are getting it back to society in the way that can have the most positive impact.

Until now it's been Melinda Gates who's been spending more time on the foundation.

This is, this is a challenge that we have, because people look at Bill and me and say, my gosh, you have a ton of money, right? Ok, so we've started this foundation. And when we started it, we have, we put into it 30 billion dollars. That's all money Bill's earned essentially from this incredible company -- Microsoft. And a friend of ours...

Bill Gates will soon be working alongside his wife, and friends say they complement each other.

geek: [N-COUNT]
You can refer to someone who is skilled with computers, and who seems more interested in them than in people, as a geek(INFORMAL)