ZDNet is available in the following editions:
Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.
Voice and touch recognition will become pervasive, transforming the office environment, says Microsoft chairman Bill Gates
To view this content, JavaScript must be enabled and you need the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player
In coming years, as voice and touch recognition becomes more pervasive, everything from the conference table to the whiteboard will be a computer, says Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. He sits down with CNET News.com's Ina Fried to discuss what he sees as the future of technology.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below
By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ
ike fuelband is great for every healthminded person ! to work out! theres this website called textme4free.com that you can use to text anywhere in...
3 hours ago by bordero on Nike's FuelBand wristband gamifies exercise > I'm told it's somewhat annoying when people have their Macs stolen > and Apple stores treat the thief as the owner, but there you go. Ouch,...
5 hours ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks
@kevinmchapman. OK, I acknowledge that 'most' was a gratuitous throwaway comment as an afterthought and too presumptuous. As to proof, as you...
10 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
@BrownieBoy > Works really well for thieves.... >> Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally >> irrelevant, even...
11 hours ago by Jack Schofield on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks fantastic that the so called piracy bills have been withdrawn. however, these anti-democracy supporters are still in the shadows so lets be alert...
11 hours ago by raskolnikof on SOPA, Protect IP support wavers in face of online protestPlease God no; teach them anything you like - thinking rationally, the uses and misuses of data, what data is and what it's not - but leave the...
14 hours ago by Tony Douglas via Facebook on Kids are the future. Teach ’em to code. @Jack, > Works really well for thieves.... Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally irrelevant, even it were...
1 day ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...
1 day ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...
1 day ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...
2 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...
2 days ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source "the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...
2 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux MintAnother grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...
2 days ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...
2 days ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface @kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...
2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...
3 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...
3 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint "Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...
3 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...
3 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux MintIf we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...
3 days ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
The Smart Working Handbook explores practices that enable workers to become more flexible and work... Read more
As cyber-criminals become increasingly coordinated in their cross-medium attacks, a solid, communicating and... Read more
Whether your business is a medium-sized organisation or a large conglomerate, projects are a part of your everyday... Read more
SOFTWARE ENGINEER - BERKS - to 34k plus package WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS / WMS - UNIX C JAVA ORACLE...
JAVA DEVELOPER TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS / TMS - UNIX JAVA (with C# C++ OOP OOD ANDROID)...
Talkback
Bill is definitely up their with Chris Huhne in the boredom stakes.
It's amusing to see a blatant sales pitch spun as a 'visionary prediction'.
What was that about people never needing more that a 32MB of RAM?
...NEXT!
Dear Mr Gates,
Ubiquitous computing was largely due to your efforts and because of you and your vision, many hundreds of millions of people throughout the world now have the capacity to communicate and interact in ways no preceding civilisation ever had. With the exception of the still as yet unknown effects we may bear from global climate change as being forecast by leading scientists everywhere, it would seem that we are in for an exciting technological future. Nano tech, super conductivity, renewable energy and a host of new 'super systems' are all converging to bring about the next amazing transformation of life on Planet EARTH.
The part however that you seem (for whatever reasons) to have left from your various tomes on the subject of the future of technology is the pervasive all seeing, all knowing possibility that will no doubt exist in the not too distant future - if it's not already here i.e. consider Google and its means to contextually 'read' ALL GMAIL accounts.
Soon it will be known who we are (individual identity and all social/ physical network relationships therein), where we are, where we go, who we're with, who we meet and all that we watch, read, eat, buy, touch and do.
Total Information Awareness doesn't really bother me per se as long as industry leaders such as yourself actually informed the greater mass that its realization is well on the way. Beyond that, some may think that Total Transparency is probably a necessary evolution and will aid in the overall betterment of humanity.
Technology, as you have rightly surmised, will permeate every possible area of human activity though exactly how it will make us better custodians of a potentially reacclimatizing ecosystem is yet to be declared.
I'd like to hear more of your far reaching thoughts in respect of the future of technology rather than a glossy overview that bears some inside contextual framework to the ongoing activities and business pursuits of microsoft.
TFD
I love bill gates, i thing he's a good person, but i've read on wikipedia that he once said you start loosing your creativity when you're 30, based on that interview, there's good reason to believe him.