Newsmaker: At CES, Gates tells what a geek wants

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You know, every year we see big, amazing LCD screens. Obviously, (there are) big price drops this year, big volume increases, so we'll see that. Taking care of the lack of certain color capabilities, these new backlights are amazing; the plasma people stepping up for their piece; the improvements in just the capacity and the bandwidth.

I love seeing that 802.11n is happening here. Now that's a cutting-edge thing, but people are sending high definition over multiple input, multiple output-type devices. Those will get standardized; the price will come down. Here, Toshiba, when you connect up your video, they're using ultrawideband to send a DVI video signal from here so that you don't have to connect. It's a docking station with no cables. The only thing you need a wire for is for the power. Everything else, you just come within proximity, and there it is. So that's a cutting-edge thing, that it's low-volume this year but over the next several years really will get out there in a huge way.

The relationship of phones to PCs, we'll see some new things there. The relationships of PCs to services up on the Internet itself, that's another hot area that we and others are investing in. So everything is here, from purple containers for devices to neat new software. I get to spend a few hours looking around tomorrow.

Obviously, you're still working full-time at Microsoft, but the Gates Foundation is getting a lot of your attention. Health care and education have been two of the big focuses. What are the kinds of things that you're starting to look at in your foundation work?
Gates: The change for me doesn't come until mid-2008. I'm totally full-time at Microsoft and get anywhere from 10 to 15 hours on my foundation work. That's going very well. We've got great scientists, and people understand that the challenge is there, and so I look forward to understanding those things better. My new time really will go into health and education, some of which, hopefully, I'll help Microsoft in those areas but very much the foundation getting some of that input.

Both Microsoft and the Gates Foundation have education as a common focus. You and other people have been talking about the problems and putting a lot of energy into it for years now. Especially in the U.S., is the education situation getting better or is it still not where it needs to be?
Gates: Education is complex to even measure. My daughter goes to a school that's been using portable PCs for every student for over six years now. They use tablets. And if she doesn't have a math textbook, she just cuts the problems out and tries things out. She can e-mail the teacher whenever she wants.

So when you get a glimpse of that, and how interactive it is and how it's easy to analyze, OK, what's going wrong here? And that kind of support that you get from simple communications, and even sending the homework to the parents and saying "Hey, I need help with this" or "Hey, I'm proud of what I did."

You can see a glimpse that we've got some really great things--the lectures that are out there on the Internet now. If you can find the right ones, it's kind of amazing, and Microsoft and others can do more to make that simple so that lectures are the simple, the easy part. And then collaborative learning--whether that's just finding people online or even doing the collaborative learning online--software can help with that, you know, build a marketplace that that all coalesces around. We're quite enthused about it.  

More Newsmakers

[Dachi]

MS Robotics Studio is interesting

I think a combination of wireless technologies and robotics studio should lead to some interesting household products.

Instead of just having LCD panels around the house wirelessly networked, simple robotics allow for richer interaction with them.

Windows Home Server is probably intended more as a content delivery system for audio/video, but it could also be used to communicate with simple robotic products wirelessly so that they can offload processing to reduce costs.

Take the Roomba for instance, instead of a generic algorithm to decide where to vacuum, it could use a cheap laser range finder to feed numbers back to a central server that can use the measurements to create maps of the rooms and calculate the robots position in the house.

The server could then use more complicated algorithms to determine where the robot needs to vacuum and sent it simplified instructions.

Ditto for a toy like Robosapien, with offloaded processing it could have speech and facial recognition.

There are tons of possibilities for something like this that I nobody has thought of yet, but with sumulation lowering entry costs to design robotics, and the ability to form a tech savvy community around a platform like this, I think it is as interesting as anything else being showcased at CES this year.

[jabbotts]

but why Microsoft?

But why Microsoft? They do have the robot-lego programming kit but I'd rather something with full transparency and freedom. I don't see Microsoft, by patent or intentions, being less restrictive.

I'll fully admit that I'm biased though after many years of running up against Microsoft's intentional limitations and lock-in strategies.

[microshizzle]

gee k......

i wonder how the bill gates foundation thing is going while he's busy promoting microshizzle =)

[garrywdm]

gates envy

At least he's not faking documents to fatten his pay cheque. Instead Gates employs people to give his money away

[jabbotts]

not worth discussion

I'm guessing that the foundation is more than two people and that they have a management structure in place reporting in regularily while he continues is exit from Microsoft's day to day as per schedual.

It's really not worth discussion though unless your just looking for things to complain about; and I'd be the first to be making noise if there was something to complain about.

Besides, consider the potential good he can do. Even if he did nothing more than walk around throwing money at problems; that alone would make a noticable difference on a global scale. We all hate him and company because of the application of a highly trained strategic mind applied to business. If he applies that same focus, determination and strategic analysis to really solving problems without demanding that every solution be patented under the Microsoft brand then there's a huge potential for good to be done.

If he's just looking for new early-entry markets to brand and exploit then we have a different situation entirely.

Proove us wrong Bill; do some real humanitarian good without employing Microsoft products.

[garrywdm]

Go Robo Studio

The studio is brilliant. Well done MS. Thinking ahead in leaps and bounds

[onesoftware]

Vista #1

A question was asked on C/net, ?What will you say when you see the new Windows Vista?? It just popped into my head, that thought, and I laughed so hard tears fell in my hilarity.



Could you please tell Mr. Gates my thought? I think it would make a fabulous slogan for his New Windows Vista.



This is the Image and thought I saw in my head. A man standing there with a computer case lopsided on his head and him looking out the slot where the cd player is. The slot is larger. You can see his eyes. He is dressed in leather. There is a patch over the left corner of the computer case, an eye patch, a big one, a square one. It has 2 black shoe strings on it and wrapped around the computer box. The computer boxes? lights are blinking on and off. The case is worn and damaged banged up. The man?s legs are spread apart standing like a macho man. He has black boots, black leather pants, black leather vest. It really should be Mr. Gates, but if he can?t do it, a body builder will do as second choice. Then the man pulls his hand from his vest and says with a big full grin, ?ASTA LA VISTA ?BA-----BY,? as he shows the new Product. The sound of the New Vista is heard from the computer monitor. Miraculously the monitor kicks the man out of the computer box. The computer is not blinking or making clunky noises. Isn?t that phrase ?ASTA LA VISTA BABY?? funny? The monitor(it sees, you know)snaps in the ultimate Vista Cd and walla. ALl sounds normal... mmm mmm good! YES, MR. GATES!
I want a free computer also loaded with it all!
Thankyou. Taking my pretty bow and curtsy. ha ha

Well I sure had a good laughed, since it is the greatest of them all and so promising.

Have a good day.



Heidi Bujak

[alek_nedic]

There is a patch

http://www.analogstereo.com/volvo_v70_owners_manual.htm

[enscorp]

Mr Gates, Please contact me.

Mr. Gates,

With all due respect to your success and vision I ask that you contact me regarding the next "Bleeding Edge" communications technology. I have at least one engineer of MS products (C#, ASP.NET, etc..) who can help us deliver a working prototype fairly quickly. Please deliver any information possible on a serious submission for business partnership consideration to [e-mail]

Sincerely,

R. Frey
Enterprise Network Solutions
D.B.A. (3N5)