Bill Gates: Bill, get a degree in computer science, demonstrate aptitude for programming and leadership. Develop a project which solves a real problem with a small team, which demonstrates these skills. Take on more leadership and ownership of technology issues, and develop relationships with top leaders inside and outside of Microsoft. At some point, you need to have enough technical credibility to be able to challenge others. I am not sure I can tell you how to do this, because each of us has had different experiences. For me, it was difficult and took a long time. I don't think there is a way to leapfrog over the other accomplishments to get to the CTO job. This is what I did, which may or may not be relevant to you. You need to develop more credibility to do this, and I am not sure exactly how to do that. You should first develop a reputation as a technical leader. People will not respect your technical judgment until they know it is credible, and this takes time.
Me: Is the process same to become CEO
Bill Gates: The CEO of Microsoft is the chairman. There is no other CEO. So you need to become the chairman, which I think is a separate process. I assume I would have no inside information on how to do that. I think a person needs to build trust with the current chairman. In a way, it's the most important part of that. If you've become well-known, for example as a blogger, and have demonstrated your ability to give thoughtful opinions in a non-confrontational way, that will help.
Me: Where do you see microsoft in 10 years
from now Bill Gates: People often ask questions about trends and tech, and I think there's no way to answer them. We have to understand the specifics of what's going on. Microsoft has a good technical strategy for the future. We have a lot of really great software engineers. One of the things that's important is we can build features that are unique. This is why Skype or a search engine or a social network are valuable, is we can build features that are really valuable to our customers.