Archive for October, 2007

For years, the Microsoft chairman has been a fiery advocate, inside the company and out, for the notion that computers should be controlled, not just by mouse and keyboard, but also by more natural means, such as voice, touch and digital ink.

But, as Gates prepares to shift to part-time work at Microsoft next year, his vision is still more common inside the company’s research labs than inside the typical home or office. Unbowed, Gates said he expects to keep plugging away as he takes on a new, more limited role at the company.

“Big screens, touch, ink, speech, that’s something that I think, along with cloud computing, is the next big change in how we think about software,” Gates told CNET News.com on Tuesday. (Cloud computing is the notion that many of the computing tasks handled by individual computers today will instead be tackled by servers in huge data centers connected over the Internet.) “Ray Ozzie is driving our cloud computing stuff…Some of the natural interface stuff, I think he and Steve (Ballmer) will ask me to sort of keep the energy and vision alive there.”

“As we take the magic of software to new things, it’s OK to be too early. We don’t want to be in too late.”

–Bill Gates, chairman, Microsoft

Gates continues to lobby hard inside Microsoft for investment in speech and handwriting recognition, though neither has been a huge financial success for Microsoft. The Tablet PC, a frequent staple of Gates’ Comdex keynote speeches in the 1990s, remains a fairly niche product. And though the ability to control PCs through voice is built into Vista, the feature has gotten scant attention, and the operating system itself has received less than enthusiastic support in its first year on the market.

Gurdeep Singh Pall, a Microsoft vice president, who has worked closely with Gates in the areas of unified communications, said that Gates has expressed frustration with how slowly speech recognition has found its way into the mainstream. Pall noted that the software maker has been investing in the technology since at least 1991.

“Bill is a very big believer in speech and the potential of speech as a natural way of interacting with machines,” Pall said. “That’s an area where he is very interested and wants to understand what are the limitations and how do we get past those limitations.”

A number of Gates’ pet projects have yet to make it into the mainstream. The digital watches that use Microsoft’s Smart Personal Object Technology have remained geek toys, and his dream of an all-new Windows file system based on SQL found itself on the cutting room floor when Longhorn became Vista. But other big bets, like Internet television and the Xbox, appear poised to start paying off after years of investment.

In the coming years, the conference table will be a computer, the whiteboard will be a computer, says Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.
Gates said Microsoft has been right to invest in those areas, though he agrees his company has sometimes invested in ideas well before they were ready for prime time.

“As we take the magic of software to new things, it’s OK to be too early,” Gates said. “We don’t want to be in too late.”  And, as for these new means of interacting with computers, he insists they are underappreciated, not unimportant.

“All these things about natural interface are coming to the fore, and they are probably the thing that’s most underestimated right now about the digital revolution,” Gates said.

Of all the new ways of interacting with computers, the one that seems to be gaining the ground the quickest is multitouch, where people use multiple finger gestures to manipulate objects on a screen. Microsoft has the feature in its high-end tabletop computer, Surface, while Apple has introduced a more mainstream adaptation of the technology in the iPhone and iPod Touch

“People kind of gasp when they see how touch works on Surface, you know, when they touch their iPhone,” he said. “‘Oooo, wow,’ you know, that’s just such a natural thing.”

The conference table, the office whiteboard and even the bedroom mirror are all surfaces that will one day be replaced with an intelligent computer screen, Gates said.

“Give us a 5- to 10-year time frame and we will wonder why our tables used to sit there and not do anything for us.”

–Bill Gates, chairman, Microsoft

“Give us a 5- to 10-year time frame and we will wonder why our tables used to sit there and not do anything for us,” Gates said.

Pall said that Gates’ strength is helping the company see where technology will help previously disparate things come together. “He is amazing at spotting what are the connections that need to be made, and then moving on to the next opportunity to make the connection, and letting the rest of Microsoft and the industry innovate once the proper connection has been made.”

As for the other projects he expects to work on once he becomes a part-timer, Gates said, “Search is such a fun area right now.”

Microsoft has found itself in an intense battle with Google and, despite pouring tons of research into the area, it remains in third place behind Google and Yahoo.

Gates was more circumspect about another area he is working on. “There are some ideas about where Office should go…I’m really quite enthused about some things.”

Others at the company say that Gates is particularly driven about the notion of how presence–the notion of a computer knowing whether someone is online or not–can be used by computers to help prioritize work.

Kim Akers, general manager of Microsoft’s unified communications effort, said Gates has been pushing her team, as it integrates various modes of communications, to also make other software programs aware of when someone is busy and when–and how–they are available.

“Once you integrate that communication, how can you use the power of software to drive productivity gains?” she said.

If, say, you have an hour free on your schedule, Akers said Gates believes an intelligent agent should be able to look at your calendar and prioritize some of the top tasks and messages that you might want to tackle. “It’s very futuristic,” she said.

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It’s been almost two years since I wrote this post comparing the approaches to presentation by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Since PowerPoint 2007 has been out quite a while now I wondered if Bill Gates’ visuals and delivery have improved along with the software. So I watched this entire Bill Gates presentation recently (twice). Now, I like Bill Gates a lot. He’s a nice guy and he’s certainly a great philanthropist. My friends at Microsoft tell me he’s a pleasure to talk to one-on-one. I’m sure that’s true, but mastering the large keynote presentation on stage still eludes him. His keynotes are not terrible, they are just very average and unremarkable. His style is “normal” and “typical” and his presentations are largely unmemorable as a result. Bill Gates is a remarkable man, why can’t his presentations be remarkable too? Every time Bill does one of these “PowerPoint presentations” he legitimizes and validates this tedious style of presenting with slides.

I am not suggesting that Bill Gates change his presentation style (though I’d pay my own way to Redmond and work for free to help Bill with his next presentation). He’s been doing it “the Microsoft way” for a long time and the world keeps on spinning. The point rather is that you and I cannot present like Bill under any circumstance. I don’t care if you are pitching to investors or presenting a paper at a conference filled with stuffy, pedantic anthropologists, there is no excuse for tedium. We can still learn a lot by examining the different approaches taken by Bill and Steve.

Bill needs to be stickier
Remember that the Heath brothers found that sticky messages have six key attributes in common: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. Bill has more credibility than you or I will ever have; he’s one of the most famous people on the planet. But his presentations are usually weak in the other five areas. They are rarely simple (though the topics are not overly complex), his visuals are cluttered, he speaks in abstractions with few if any surprises and little emotion (Steve Ballmer, on the other hand, gets high marks for emotion VIDEO).

Bill & Steve redux
You may say that comparing Bill’s presentations and Steve’s keynotes is apples & oranges, that it’s not fair to compare Bill’s talk about technology trends to Steve’s product introductions. If Bill were talking about the intricacies of insurance premiums and actuary tables, you may have a point. But in this May 16th presentation by Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman is talking about “technology megatrends that will shape the future of business and society.” The audience included CEOs from top technology-related companies and the thousands watching on the webcast. There is no reason that this talk about “the future” and “business” and “society” had to be a bullet-point filled snoozer. (See more presentations by Bill Gates.)

Bill’s “voice” vs. Steve’s “voice”
Steve’s tone, pace, and the words he chooses all come together to make his “voice” conversational and natural. Steve appears comfortable, smiles, and uses humor just the right amount. He’s relaxed so the audience is relaxed. Bill appears less comfortable and his speech is more vague and filled with abstractions. Bill also uses more jargon and terms like “…rich capabilities,” “rich fonts,” “…working together in a rich way,” “…use these tools in a rich way,” and “…watching something rich like learning about an election.” (See the rich transcripts of Bill’s May 16th CEO Summit 2007. Watch the webcast of Bill’s presentation.)

Bill’s slides vs. Steve’s slides
Both Steve and Bill use slides to complement their talks. Steve’s visuals are a big part of his talk. The visuals are necessary not decorative. The visuals do not overpower him but they are an important component of the talk not just icing on the cake. Steve uses the slides to help him tell a story and he interacts with them in a natural way, rarely turning his back on the audience (monitors in front show the same onscreen image). Steve uses the huge backlit screen behind him in the same spirit at least that George Lucas uses his screen: to help tell a story. Lucas uses actors, visuals, and effects to convey his message, Steve uses visuals and his own words and natural presence to tell his story. In Bill’s case the slides are not only of low aesthetic quality (though this may be a matter of taste) they simply do not really help Bill’s narrative very much.
It’s not the slides, it’s the way they are used
But the biggest difference is not the fact that Steve’s slides are simpler with fewer elements and fewer bullet points, the biggest difference is in the way they are used. If you want to appreciate the difference you have to watch both presentations (Steve, Bill). The difference is that Steve’s slides flow smoothly with his talk. Bill’s slides aren’t really necessary; they are more of an ornament or a decoration off to the side. Bill would have been better off just pulling up a stool and sharing his ideas and then answering questions that audience members could have submitted before the talk so that Bill could select which ones he’d answer.
Bill’s slides
Below are most of the slides Bill used in his CEO Summit presentation.

Steve’s slides
Below are just a few (Steve uses far more slides) of the slides Steve used in his August Special Event keynote on the Apple campus (watch video).

If your ideas matter
Bill’s topic/subtopic bullet point style is very common, very bland, and rarely effective. He can get away with it, but you and I can’t. I am not saying that solid presentation skills will make you successful, but do not dismiss remarkable presentation skills as something soft, fluffy, and superfluous. Why aim to be successful in spite of your presentation skills? Why not allow your presentation skills to be an advantage that helps you make a difference and spread the word about your cause? If your ideas matter, then the presentation matters, right? You don’t have to use slideware for every presentation, but if you do the visuals should seem part of “the show” not something “over there” off to the side.

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Earlier this month NEWSWEEK invited readers to submit questions to Bill Gates about the work his foundation is doing on the problem of global health. We received more than 400 questions, and forwarded a selection of them to Gates. Here are his answers:

How did you start thinking about the Third World, when the whole world has been ignoring them?
—Kumud B.
Melinda and I first got involved in global health after reading an article about the huge impact of disease in poor countries. The article showed that every year millions of children die from diseases that are completely preventable with effective, affordable vaccines. We thought, “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it should be the priority of our giving.” Since then, Melinda and I have traveled extensively in the developing world, and those experiences have had a big impact too. When you have the opportunity to meet people in poor countries face to face, you quickly begin to see them as neighbors, not strangers. And when you see the devastation of diseases like malaria or AIDS, you want to do all you can to help.

I was born and raised in Mexico. I am now a Ph.D. student [in the U.S.]. I often struggle to find the right balance between working on new and exciting technology and the desire of helping those who need most. I am sure you are aware of several efforts that use high tech to try to solve the world’s biggest problems. However, my impression is that, while helpful, they have a smaller impact on the world compared to the use of low-tech solutions, such as vaccination or boiling water to prevent disease. Do you think there are irreconcilable differences between high tech and social development? If not, what are the best approaches to tackle this?
—Andrés
We need both. Millions of lives can be saved if we do a better job of ensuring access to “low tech” health tools that already exist. For example, it’s been estimated that 3 million newborn deaths could be prevented every year with greater access to relatively cheap, simple tools like vaccines and antibiotics. That’s why some of the Gates Foundation’s largest grants are helping to accelerate the delivery of existing solutions. For instance, we have provided $1.5 billion to the GAVI Alliance, which supports children’s immunization in poor countries. We have also supported the Carter Center’s efforts to distribute low-tech—but highly effective—tools to help eradicate Guinea worm, such as a special straw that filters out fleas from drinking water. But for many of the biggest health problems, the solutions we have today are not adequate. We need more effective and affordable vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tests for many of the worst diseases, like AIDS, TB, and malaria. That’s why we also invest significant resources into research and development.

I have nothing but respect for you and your wife for leading the way in helping to ease the suffering of so many people. [But the] planet is already overpopulated. Is it fair to save lives through advancements in medicine only to subject these people to abject poverty, more illness and the possibility of starvation?
—Judy B.
Melinda and I asked the same question when we got involved in global health, and the answer surprised us: there are good data to show that when health conditions improve, population growth actually goes down. Very quickly people realize that they can have fewer children because there’s a much better chance they will grow up to be healthy adults. In countries where health improves, life improves on many levels: literacy rates go up, school attendance increases, economic opportunities grow, and so on.

Your foundation works on diseases caused by poverty. But what about diseases of affluence, like diabetes and obesity and heart disease? Will you work on them? Or do you think those diseases are the victims’ own fault?
—Ben P.
All of those issues are important and need more attention. Melinda and I believe our foundation can have the greatest impact by focusing on a limited set of problems. That allows us to build up expertise in our focus areas, and to make long-term investments. Within health, we have decided to focus on about 20 diseases and health problems that disproportionately affect poor countries and receive inadequate attention and resources.

One of the elements that has hindered developmental efforts in the Third World, primarily Africa, has been the endemic culture of corruption that permeates many levels of government and society at large. How does your foundation circumvent this in its programs?
—James K.
This is an important issue—when a government sets the wrong incentives or undermines basic infrastructure and stability, there’s a modest amount that outsiders can do. But it’s also important not to overstate the problem. Many leaders in developing countries are seriously committed to improving the lives of their people, and they need support.
When our foundation supports projects in developing countries, we partner with organizations that have the expertise and capacity to deliver results on the ground. In many cases our partners have been doing work on these issues for many years, and our support enables them to move with greater urgency and help even more people. We’re also committed to rigorously evaluating the results of our efforts, and changing course when we don’t get the results we want.

What can young people do to make a difference in the world?
—Alex K.
I’d love to see more young people taking action to help the poor and disadvantaged—whether that’s in your own backyard or anywhere in the world. If you decide to choose public service as a career, that’s phenomenal—but you can also make a big difference by volunteering. Of course, the Internet has made it possible to learn about all kinds of causes and organizations, and to connect with others who have the same interests. Two places to get started are Network for Good and Global Volunteer Network.

What diseases do you think will be eradicated in your lifetime? Do you think AIDS will be?
—Sarah K.
Melinda and I are confident that in our lifetimes we will see major progress on many of the biggest infectious diseases, such as malaria and TB—maybe not complete eradication, but definitely major progress. On AIDS our dream is to see an HIV vaccine in our lifetime. This has proven to be an extremely tough scientific challenge, but we’ve got to keep pressing forward. Whether it takes 15, 20 or 25 years to get an HIV vaccine, it’s our best long-term hope to break the back of the epidemic.

Have you given any thought to funding sustainable-agriculture education and methods in Third World countries, where deforestation is rampant and poverty levels are extreme? If so, which countries have you considered for this effort?
—Tomás H.
We have. Many of the world’s poorest people live on small farms and rely on agriculture for their food and income. Melinda and I believe that making agriculture more productive and sustainable is a key to reducing poverty and hunger. It can also help preserve the environment. Last year our foundation launched an initiative that is working with partners to provide millions of small-scale farmers in Africa and South Asia with ways to boost their productivity, increase their incomes, and build better lives for themselves and their families. One of our major grantees, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, is funding programs at two universities in Ghana and South Africa that train African crop breeders to develop crops that are sustainable and suited to the needs of local farmers and environments.

In your philanthropic actions you focus on reducing the acute pain of poverty in developing countries. But there are also big problems on the horizon for the world. Specifically I mean the impending water crisis of the next half-century. Is it on the radar of the Gates Foundation? If not, should it be, and do you think it can be prevented?
—Leo B.
Water shortages are already a major problem in parts of the developing world, and, as you observe, they are only projected to get worse. Our foundation is addressing the issue through two of our grantmaking programs, although we are not focusing on the problem directly. Water is of course a crucial resource for farmers, and agriculture accounts for about 75 percent of all the water used by people worldwide. Some of our grants are specifically designed to promote more efficient ways to use water, such as drip irrigation. We also have an exploratory effort to understand more about water, sanitation and hygiene. Water for drinking, cooking and washing is a vital part of daily life, though it represents a fairly small share of overall water use. We are funding several pilot efforts to help more people get safe water, such as low-cost water treatment, and better ways to carry and store water.
In your honest opinion, what do you believe it will take to clean the world’s water supply and ensure that all nations have access to clean, safe water? Is that even a true possibility? What can we—the small people—do to help?
—Karen H.
Everyone can do something to help. There are a number of groups doing good work that help people find safe solutions—and these groups need your support. You might look into organizations such as CARE or WaterAid, or find another group that’s making a difference. At our foundation we’ve been studying this issue for the last two years. Unsafe water—and the contamination of water because of poor sanitation and hygiene—sickens and kills millions of people each year, hitting young children the hardest. It also forces people, particularly women and girls, to travel long distances every day to find safe water. There are ways to address this problem that have been demonstrated in Asia, Africa and other places during the last few decades, although usually on a small scale. We want to help these solutions reach many more people and ensure that they work over the long term. One thing we’ve learned is that approaches that strengthen and respond to people’s demands for safer water, sanitation, and hygiene are more likely to be successful than those that focus only on giving people equipment like water taps and toilets.

Considering that you made most of your money in the United States, why are you spending so much time and money helping Third World countries? America seems to have quite a number of problems that someone like you could solve.
—Craig S.
Melinda and I started our foundation because we believe all lives have equal value. Today billions of people never even have the chance to live a healthy, productive life. We think all people—no matter where they live—deserve that opportunity. Around the world one of the worst inequities is health. In the U.S. it’s the fact that millions of young people’s choices in life are limited not because they aren’t talented or motivated but because they don’t have access to great schools and teachers. Every year, for the last 20 years, more than a million young people have dropped out of high school. Dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, end up in prison, slide into poverty, and need more assistance from the government. That’s why our foundation has committed more than $3 billion in scholarships and grants aimed at ensuring that all students in the U.S. graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college, career and life.

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If you’ve been in the work force for 20 years or more, you can remember a time when the pace of business-and life in general-was quite a bit slower than it is today. Back then we read newspapers and magazines and watched the network news to stay informed. Faxes were just becoming a common way to share written business information. A phone call might elicit a busy signal or no one would answer at all. In those days, no one expected to send documents to coworkers on the other side of the globe instantly, collaborate in real-time with colleagues in distant cities, or share photographs the very day they were taken.

These and similar advances have delivered remarkable results. The ability to access and share information instantly and communicate in ways that transcend the boundaries of time and distance has given rise to an era of unprecedented productivity and innovation that has created new economic opportunities for hundreds of millions of people around the world and paved the way for global economic growth that is unparalleled in human history.

But few people would argue that there is no room for improvement. Although we have once-unimaginable access to people and information, we struggle today to keep track of emails and phone calls across multiple inboxes, devices, and phone numbers; to remember a growing number of passwords; and to synchronize contacts, appointments, and data between desktop PCs and mobile devices. The fact is that the proliferation of communications options has become a burden that often makes it more difficult to reach people than it used to be, rather than easier.

In 2006, I wrote about how unified communications innovations were already beginning to transform the way we communicate at work. Because you are a subscriber to executive emails from Microsoft, I want to provide you with an update on the progress we’re making toward achieving our vision for unified communications. I also want to share my thoughts on how rapid advances in hardware, networks, and the software that powers them are laying the foundation for groundbreaking innovations in communications technology. These innovations will revolutionize the way we share information and experiences with the people who are important to us at work and at home, and help make it possible to put the power of digital technology in the hands of billions of people around the globe who have yet to reap the benefits of the knowledge economy.

Moving Beyond Disconnected Communications

A fundamental reason that communicating is still so complex is the fact that the way we communicate is still bound by devices. In the office, we use a work phone with one number. Then we ask people to call us back on a mobile device using another number when we are on the go, or reach us on our home phone with yet another number. And we have different identities and passwords for our work and home email accounts, and for instant messaging.

This will change in the very near future. As more and more of our communications and entertainment is transmitted over the Internet thanks to email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and the emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and other protocols, a new wave of software-driven innovations will eliminate the boundaries between the various modes of communications we use throughout the day. Soon, you’ll have a single identity that spans all of the ways people can reach you, and you’ll be able to move a conversation seamlessly between voice, text, and video and from one device to another as your location and information sharing needs change. You’ll also have more control over how you can be reached and by whom: when you are busy, the software on the device at hand will know whether you can be interrupted, based on what you are doing and who is trying to reach you.

One of the best examples of how communication is changing-and how technology is integrating the way people share experiences across devices-starts in the world of video games. With Xbox Live, the online gaming and entertainment network for Xbox 360, people can play games with friends who are in distant locations. Xbox Live also provides a comprehensive range of communications options including video chat and instant messaging, as well as text, voice, and picture messaging, all seamlessly integrated into the video game experience. With more than 7 million subscribers, Xbox Live is quickly redefining the way people access entertainment of all kinds. And it is enabling them to share experiences with each other in real time without being constrained by the limits of location.

But that’s just the start. We recently launched Games for Windows – Live, which links Xbox 360 gamers with the millions of people who play games on their PCs. Now, Windows and Xbox 360 video game players can compete and communicate with each other without being constrained by the limits of devices.

The communications expectations that young people-and anybody else who has adopted the latest digital communications tools-bring to the workplace are already changing how we do business. To them, the desk phone is an anachronism that lacks the flexibility and range of capabilities that their mobile device can provide. A generation that grew up on text messaging is driving the rapid adoption of instant messaging as a standard business communications tool. Accustomed to forming ad hoc virtual communities, they want tools that facilitate the creation of virtual workgroups. Used to collecting and storing information online, they look for team Web sites, Wikis, and other digital ways to create and share information.

All of these expectations are prompting companies to adapt by implementing new communications strategies and technologies. Those that do are already seeing a wide range of benefits including significant cost savings and important productivity gains. At Microsoft, for example, we replaced our old voice mail system with Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging, a move that is saving the company $5 million annually by lowering hardware and maintenance costs. More importantly, Exchange Server 2007 provides a software solution that enables integration of traditional telephone infrastructure and VoIP with corporate messaging, calendaring, and directories. This convergence of telephony and messaging increases employee productivity and decreases the administrative workload for IT professionals.

The Next Wave of Communications Technologies

Today in San Francisco, Microsoft is launching the next wave of enterprise VoIP and unified communications products for business. Among the products we’ll launch are Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, which bring together a broad range of communications options including voice, instant messaging, and video into a single, consistent experience. Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator make it easier for employees to communicate and collaborate with each other in real-time by letting them see at a glance if the people they want to contact are available. They will also be able to initiate a conversation by email, voice, video, or instant messaging from within Microsoft Office system applications, making communication and collaboration an integral part of day-to-day work processes, rather than an interruption. In addition, when they use the new version of Office Communicator Mobile that is launching today, they will be able to stay connected using Windows Mobile-powered devices.

We’re also announcing the availability of Microsoft RoundTable, an advanced video and VoIP conferencing device that provides a 360-degree view of a meeting room, along with wideband audio and video that tracks the flow of conversation between multiple speakers. With RoundTable and Office Live Meeting or Office Communications Server, meeting participants in different locations will be able to converse and share information as if they were in the same room. RoundTable also enables companies to record meetings for later use.

All of these products are important steps toward achieving our long-term vision for streamlined, integrated communications that will enable people to be more productive, more creative, and to stay in touch more easily without being limited by the device they have at hand or the network they are connected to.

A Foundation for Future Innovation

It would be hard to overstate the magnitude of the changes that are coming. Standardized, software-powered communications technologies will be the catalyst for the convergence of voice, video, text, applications, information, and transactions, making it possible to create a seamless communications continuum that extends across people’s work and home lives. This will provide the foundation for new products, services, and capabilities that will change the world in profound and often unexpected ways.

This will happen not only in developed countries where access to digital technology is the norm, but also in emerging economies around the world. Currently, about 1 billion of us have a PC, just a fraction of the world’s 6 billion people. As we make technology more accessible and simpler to use-often in the form of affordable mobile devices-we can extend new social and economic opportunities to hundreds of millions of people who have never been able to participate in the global knowledge economy. And as more and more of the world’s people are empowered to use their ideas, talents, and hard work to the fullest, the results will be new innovations that make everyone’s lives richer, more productive, and more fulfilling.

Bill Gates