A group of bloggers and online influencers, myself included, got to sit down today with Bill Gates as part of Microsoft's special Mix n' Mash 07 event. The day's participants included an eclectic group of individuals. Some were bloggers, others are key movers and shakers in the web development community. There were 14 of us in all. Participants included Jeremy Zawody, Michael Arrington (Techcrunch), Liz Gannes (Gigaom), Niall Kennedy, Chris Pirillo, Molly Holzschlag, Evan Williams, Shaun Inman and others. (photo)
This has been on my calendar for over a month now and I had plenty of time to process it mentally before Gates arrived. Still, it's a rush once the world's richest man and one of the most influential people in business and world affairs sits right down across a table from you. A bunch of us were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the moment. I have never met a President of the United States but this sure felt like it for me. (Also note that Microsoft is one of our firm's key clients but I was invited as a blogger.)
We had an hour with Bill. He was incredibly affable during the entire time. He opened up with a brief rundown of where he feels Microsoft is today. He was bullish about Microsoft's big launches in 2007. He said that the company likes to roll out a super strong product then see how it connects to other things. A lot of these products will require strong services.
Gates also talked about his transition to becoming a full-time philanthropist. Most product reviews will transition to Ray Ozzie, with other initiatives falling under Craig Mundie. A big topic of conversation Gates says he has with Ray Ozzie relates to the next versions of Windows and Office and "how much "Liveness" we get into these products." These decisions will be made in the next six months.
Then Gates turned it over to his audience to ask questions. As you'll soon see, everything was open to discussion - even Bill's Christmas wishlist! I wasn't able to capture everything verbatim, but I got the highlights. Here's a rundown of what we asked. Please note these are all paraphrases of his comments, not direct quotes.
Last but not least, I want to reiterate my travel was paid for and like Michael Arrington, I too received a Zune and a USB stick for participating.
Q) What applications do you see running inside the browser or outside?
A) This is a technical distinction over time.... There are tasks you want to do that require information off the Web.
Most of the interesting applications will span that boundary.
Q) Do you despair at the number of Macs in the room?
A) We're happy about it. We sell a lot of software for the Mac!
Q) Is digital rights management (DRM) sustainable over the next 10 years?
A) DRM is not where it should be. In the end of the day incentive systems (for artists) make a difference. But we don't have the right thing here in terms of simplicity or interoperability.
Q) What is the most important thing we can do as tech leaders re. education/healthcare?
A) Get involved in the school where your children go...For healthcare (and developing nations), distance is an issue. Sometimes the most we can do is vote for certain political candidates. (Gates said he and Bono discussed this over dinner last night - specifically what they can do to surface these two issues in the upcoming Presidential campaign.)
Q) What would you be looking at today if you were an independent entrepreneur?
A) Something dramatic like artificial intelligence. Biology. Energy.
Q) What's on your Zune? (This was my question)
All of the U2 stuff plus a lot more musicals than you might expect - for example, Wicked.
Q) Microsoft has fully embraced blogging in its communications. You have met with bloggers on a few occasions too. Why do you think other execs have not given bloggers the same level of access Microsoft has? (This was also my Q)
A) It's natural we would put more energy into working with bloggers. We're just an R&D company ... We need lots of feedback. We need to be very transparent in what we're doing. It's a more intimate relationship than most companies have. Other CEOs may be afraid they will be too stuffy or confrontational. It's not as critical for them. Some should do it more. Its just a choice.
Q) What did you want to be when you grew up?
A) A lawyer. I admired the work that (my father) did. When I got enthralled with math, I thought I would go into mathematics. Then computers came along. I became confused but eventually, it all became crystal clear in my freshman year. I also thought about being an economist.
Q) Are there things on the horizon that will bring more transparency to government?
A) It should be interesting to watch online video in upcoming presidential election. People will try to outdo each other to be the online hip guy.
The internet has made it difficult to run a regime that runs on secrecy. Government is already benefiting. Government isn't open to competitive forces. All things good or bad will come more slowly to govt.
Q) What's on your Christmas list?
A) I am always hard to buy for; www.teach12.com has great lectures on science topics. I didn't buy the last DVDs of (the TV series) 24. I try not to purchase these so I can receive them as gifts.
Q) Will the $100 laptop be a success and are you behind it? Will it help developing countries?
A) There are people who think PCs solve the world's problems. PCs have a role to play...you need to pick the right places, it's easy to be overblown.
Q) Did you ever reach a point where you weren't interested in computers?
A) Not as long as Moore's Law is around.
Q) Will entertainment drive computing or vice versa?
A) What will be the transport where TV comes into the household? It will be over the Internet. A broadcast infrastructure is a stupid thing. And we'll create a new infrastructure that is more sophisticated. Some will interact with ads. TV has been living under many limitations. Now we can fill in for everyone and try new things along the spectrum like educational shows. All the genres will get the magic of software.
Q) What does the OS look like in 3-4 years? Where does consumer Windows fit in?
A) In three to four years it won't change dramatically, but it will evolve faster. It will be more user centric as you move from machine to machine. It will replicate trivial stuff up to the cloud and back, cross-PC and cross-device.
I want to thank Bill for his time and the entire evangelism team for inviting us. This was definitely a once in a lifetime event and the entire day got me thinking more broadly about technology.
::Later: Liz Gannes from Gigaom has her run-down of the day as does Niall.
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