YouTube - Bill Gates CES 2007 Keynote: The Digital Age That Can't Be Stopped

Good evening, it's a great pleasure to be here today and witness one exciting moment after another. Over the past few years, many dreams and aspirations have become reality. My first keynote at CES was back in 1994 — that seems like a long time ago now. Back then, Windows 95 had just been launched, and the Internet was still in its infancy.

A few years later, we entered the first "Digital Decade." During this decade, the global number of PCs grew to over a billion; broadband users increased from almost none to over 250 million; global mobile phone penetration exceeded 40%; and photos underwent a transformation from film to digital formats, leveraging the power of software. The music industry also went through the same kind of transformation, and now all tasks related to organizing, selecting, and sharing can be done through software. It became clear that all media and entertainment would be driven by software, and the first "Digital Decade" was a tremendous success.

Today's trends include accessing information anytime, anywhere; making websites richer and supporting both consumer and business activities; fully utilizing PCs to further enhance user experiences; and achieving full customization to help people get what they need. Ten years ago, I foresaw some of these developments. I talked about in-car PCs, and now we have Ford SYNC; I mentioned handheld PCs and smartphones, and now they've captured significant market share with even more applications thanks to software; and we turned the idea of Internet TV conferencing into reality, with Media Room connecting over a million users.

From these facts, it’s clear how far we’ve come. The first "Digital Decade" was a huge success, thanks to the collaboration of thousands of companies, including hardware makers, software application developers, platform providers, as well as movie and video game content creators. Now is just the beginning, and nothing will stop us from moving faster and deeper into the next "Digital Decade."

Before talking about the next "Digital Decade," there’s one thing I want to tell you: this is my last keynote address at CES. By mid-year, which is July, I’ll step away from Microsoft’s day-to-day management and focus full-time on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This will be the first time since I was 17 years old when I founded Microsoft that I’ll step away from day-to-day involvement in the company. I don’t know exactly how my last day at Microsoft will go, so I asked some friends to help me prepare for it. We made a short video, and I’d like to show it to you now.

I think this video doesn’t depict everything that might happen perfectly, but it’s very entertaining. In fact, the transition at Microsoft has gone very smoothly, with Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie gradually taking over my responsibilities. Of course, after the transition, I’ll still choose a few projects to work on, focusing on the immense power of software—how software can drive education and global health, among other things.

The second "Digital Decade"

We believe that the second "Digital Decade" will focus on bringing people together, being user-centric. Microsoft will provide a platform to help users create applications that run not only on PCs but also on the Internet, phones, cars, and TVs. These applications will fully leverage the advantages of these platforms and Internet services. When we talk about services, we’re referring to a wide range of things, such as map services, payment services, friend lists, and storage services. These services will span both work and commerce, much like personal computers do today.

Many significant advancements lie within these new types of applications. Problems we haven't yet solved, such as transforming television, reading, healthcare, and education, could potentially be resolved with the help of these factors. Here, I want to highlight three key points, the first being high-definition experiences everywhere.

Display technology is getting better and better—not just high-definition displays, but also projectors that can cast images on all walls. In the future, we may not place computers on desks anymore but inside them. You may need to collaborate in a meeting room, watch news, play games, or organize photos in your living room. No matter where you are, projectors will be a good choice—they're easy to operate, adaptable, and usable by multiple people.

The quality of image rendering is becoming increasingly important, whether you're gaming or using virtual earth software. 3D environments will appear in more network experiences, such as entering a 3D online store or meeting others in a 3D social environment. For this reason, we will promote the widespread adoption of high-quality video and audio.

The second point I'm discussing is that all devices will be connected to services. As a result, people will take for granted receiving the latest software updates, browser applications, and their own data, regardless of device type or location. With the prevalence of cloud storage, connecting devices and searching through them will become simpler, and information sharing will become more common.

In fact, when you pick up a device and authenticate yourself, you can connect to your information. This means that when you buy a new phone or need to borrow someone else's device, you won’t encounter issues with losing or transferring your data. Even while on the move, you can still handle many tasks, such as organizing your thoughts, reviewing your child's growth, or finding relevant information through the system. Therefore, digital memory applications will become more prevalent and important. These devices will understand your "context" and even your location.

The last point I’m discussing, and perhaps the most underestimated aspect, is the role of natural user interfaces. In the first "Digital Decade," user interfaces were primarily keyboards and mice. Over the past two years, we've started seeing other interaction methods emerge. We began talking about touchscreens for Windows PCs and iPhones. We also saw Tellme voice functionality integrated into phones and Ford SYNC, helping users interact with media or their phones.

Natural user interfaces have sparked strong market reactions, as people are very interested in simpler ways to navigate information. Therefore, digital smart pens, touch, image recognition, and other new interaction methods have rapidly spread, offering users an entirely new experience. Our goal is to be able to complete tasks by simply gesturing in front of the TV. We still have a long way to go to reach this goal, so we're just at the beginning. To achieve this, the software industry needs to provide a platform so individual developers don’t have to deal with overly complex work.

Of course, Microsoft's foundation is the Windows platform. We will continue to develop and innovate this platform, making it truly core. For the PC industry, the past year has been incredible. In 2007, global PC sales grew by 13%. Given the already large base of computer users, this is quite an impressive achievement. We believe that global PC sales will continue to grow by double-digit percentages in the coming year.

One year ago, we launched the Vista operating system. So far, over 100 million people worldwide are using Vista. For us, our software and hardware partners, this is a very important milestone. Many of our partners have added new elements and features to their PCs, especially portable devices. Many products are beautifully designed, unimaginably small, and suitable for new uses.

We also offer web services. Over the past year, web services have developed rapidly. For us, our Windows Live service now has over 400 million users. On the mobile platform side, Windows Mobile gained over 10 million users in the past year, and we expect that number to double in 2008.