HARDWARE FOR FREE: Gates

Hardware costs will fall sharply within a decade to the point where
widespread computing with speech and handwriting won’t be limited by expensive
technology, feels Microsoft Corp’s Chairman, Bill Gates.

"Actual hardware costs you can almost think of hardware as being free in
ten years. I’m not saying it will be absolutely free, but in terms of the
power of the servers, the power of the network will not be a limiting
factor," Bill adds, referring to networked computers and advances in the
speed of the Internet.

Microsoft has often been at odds with the computer hardware industry over the
last 20 years, given the dominant position it holds through the lock on PCs it
has through its Windows operating system.

The world’s largest software maker is betting that advances in hardware and
computing will make it possible for computers to interact with people via speech
and that handwriting recognition will become as ubiquitous as Microsoft’s
Windows operating system, which runs on more than 90% of the world’s personal
computers.

"Many of the holy grails of computing that have been worked on over the
last 30 years will be solved within this 10-year period, with speech being in
every device and having a device that is like a tablet that you just carry
around," Bill stated at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo, held by IT researcher,
Gartner Group.

In fact, Microsoft is already selling software for such products, aimed
mainly at businesses, rather than retail consumers. It recently launched Speech
Server for companies developing automated call centers.

Bill also says advances in programming will allow software developers to
create applications in less time by using visual representations of the inner
workings of software rather than writing lines of programming code.

CIOL BUREAU/REUTERS