Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates will be downsizing his role at the world's mightiest software company, effective July 2008. Gates will reportedly transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The company announced a two-year transition process to ensure that there is a "smooth and orderly transfer" of Gates' daily responsibilities, and said that after July 2008 Gates would continue to serve as the company's chairman and an advisor on key development projects.

Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately assume the title of chief software architect while Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer. Gates will work with both over the next two years to ensure smooth orderliness.

"Our business and technical leadership has never been stronger, and Microsoft is well-positioned for success in the years ahead. I feel very fortunate to have such great technical leaders like Ray and Craig at the company," Gates said. "I remain fully committed and full time at Microsoft through June 2008 and will be working side by side with Ray and Craig to ensure that a smooth transition occurs."

"This was a hard decision for me," Gates added smoothly. "I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever."

For those just arriving from Mars, Microsoft, founded in 1975, pioneered many of the software innovations that paved the way for the digital information revolution and launched the PC industry. Beginning with MS-DOS, Microsoft's first operating system, and continuing with products such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows and Xbox, the company has developed a broad range of software, services and solutions that have transformed the way people work, communicate and play. Microsoft has 63,000 employees in more than 100 countries and generates annual sales of more than $40 billion USD.