At an economic conference here in Montana last year, Bill Gates appeared via videoconference on a giant screen hung from the rafters of the Montana Tech field house. Attendees were able to ask questions, and they did so deferentially, contributing to the odd sensation that God himself was being beamed in to offer his wisdom to the mere mortals below.

Mr Gates, who last week formally stepped down from Microsoft, looked dapper, and his tone was gentle, even avuncular – a wise man doing what he could to help. For a long-time Gates-watcher like myself, he was all but unrecognisable.

The Bill Gates that I knew – as a technology beat reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times, and later as editor in chief of the Industry Standard – was always combative, and often obnoxiously so. His brilliance was matched only by his arrogance.

His people skills were non-existent: I've often told the story of a long sit-down interview with him in which he spent the first 20 minutes or so ridiculing me for my stupidity in thinking that the federal government's anti-trust investigation of his company might actually be a real issue (this was in 1991), and then proceeded to eat his lunch in front of me (it was lunchtime) without offering me so much as a glass of water.

End of an era: Bill Gates steps down at Microsoft

From computer nerd to one of the world's richest man, Bill Gates leaves Microsoft after nearly 30 years in charge

• Exclusive interview with Bill Gates on how Yahoo! takeover will challenge Google

• Bill Gates: world to enter 'second digital decade'

• Bill Gates's hits and misses at seeing future

Related Internet Links

• Comment archive:
  Jonathan Weber

I always thought Microsoft's problems with the government were entirely self-inflicted, a direct of result of Mr Gates' "I'm smarter than you" approach to so many relationships. People don't like being treated like fools, and federal government lawyers – unlike, say, Microsoft competitors – didn't have to sit there and take it.

Of course, Mr Gates is indeed smarter than just about anyone else, and his combination of brilliance and ruthlessness is what made Microsoft the most successful company of its generation. Most entrepreneurial enterprises reflect the personality of their founders, and thus Microsoft was widely respected, and widely unloved.

It's easy to suspect that the change in Mr Gates is a superficial makeover, but I actually tend to think it's deeper. A man that smart can't be entirely ignorant of how he is perceived, or incapable of willing some change in himself. Success in the world of philanthropy has different requirements from success in the world of high-tech, and I'm sure that's not lost on him either.

How Microsoft will evolve in Mr Gates' absence is a complicated question. The company has long ceased to be the dominating force that it was in the early 1990s, and that in itself requires some change in thinking. Steve Ballmer, the company’s CEO, has been a senior figure at the company from the earliest days, and although he's also very smart and famously aggressive, he doesn't have the nasty edge of his former boss.

My suspicion is that the culture of Microsoft will change faster than we might expect. It faces huge business challenges as more and more computing moves off the desktop and onto the internet; the recent histrionics around its attempted acquisition of Yahoo! are just the latest reflection of that.

It's quite a big company now, and can't promise the growth rates and the stock options and the glory that enabled it to attract the best and brightest a decade ago. When your identity is built around being the smartest and most successful guy on the block, you can't really stay the course when it's obvious that someone else (Google) is smarter and more successful.

In fact, while much of the focus is now on Mr Ballmer's short-term tactics vis-à-vis Yahoo! and Google, I think his great opportunity is to build a culture that reflects the Gates of today more than it does the Gates who built Microsoft. The company has been seasoned by a few setbacks, it's more mature, it's all but required by market realities to be more human in its approach. If Mr Ballmer can do this without sacrificing the brilliance and competitive edge that got it to where it is today, he will have a legacy that may almost live up to that of his boss.

---

Jonathan Weber is the founder and editor in chief of NewWest.Net, a regional news service focused on the Rocky Mountain West in the United States. He was previously the co-founder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard