Bill Gates – Goodbye from Israel

Last Friday was a big day for the Software Industry. Bill Gates stepped down from his active role at Microsoft. Everyone across the internet wrote about it (Random choices include More Ramblings, Wally Bock, Engadget and my favorite at Venture beat). Like always, I tried to take the Israeli view.

What is the Israeli view? On one hand, Bill Gates and Microsoft were early supporters of Israel, opening up Microsoft R&D Center almost 20 years ago (1991), a few years before the local industry really took off. However, Bill visited Israel only once and that happened recently (October, 2005). He was in Israel for no more than 24 hours, although he did give a lot of positive press, constantly talking about the strong commitment of Microsoft to Israel. (Check reviews of that visit in the Jerusalem Post and in Globes). 24 Hours over the past 30+ years of Microsoft? Clearly Israel was not high on Bill's agenda.

With that in mind, here is a different view on the topic. Who is the Israeli comparable of Bill Gates? Who is the most influential CEO/Entrepreneur in the local Israeli Software industry? Someone that really had a major influence on the local industry as well as the global high-tech. I put some names together in a short poll below. The winner (?) gets a free ride with Bill Gates on his next trip to Israel.