Bill
Gates spoke yesterday at
the TechNet event at Stanford University. Here are his thoughts on what
changes IT will make in society over the next 10 years:
“Changes are now coming faster than ever. We’ll be seeing more and
more students using tablets instead of stacks of books in schools and in
online learning. We’ll have computers that can see and learn like people …
we’ll continue to see major breakthroughs in software development, in things
like voice recognition, gaming [and] video. We’re on to new and important
advances in IT, just as we were at the advent of the PC.
In gaming, [the] TV, high-definition video [and] PC are all coming together
now in the Xbox. Voice recognition will get better … software and services
with improved interfaces wrapped around them will be coming soon. Our new Zune
[media player] has built-in Wi-Fi, so you can send your friends music and
photos and messages … we’ll continue to see this kind of innovation building
on top of what we have today. We’re moving toward more connected
entertainment everywhere.”
While it is a very Microsoft-centric view of the future (using tablets
instead of books, Xbox, etc), it helps to remind ourselves every now and then of
the high level trends for the Web. The theme of connected entertainment is one
in which Microsoft is strongly positioning itself, despite the hiccups
in this week’s Zune release.
If all goes well for Microsoft (a big ‘if’), in 10 years time they will be
the software that powers a lot of connected entertainment – just as in the 80’s
and 90’s they provided the OS for the majority of PCs. The multi-billion dollar
question is: can they get the same kind of dominance in connected entertainment
as in the PC?
