The world's poorest two billion people do not need cheap computers -- they need drugs and electricity, according to the world's richest man.
Speaking at the University of Chicago this week, Bill Gates said that helping the world's poor is not about giving them cheap PCs.
"That is of no value at all to the poorest two billion people in the world. They don't have electricity, they don't have a teacher, they don't have textbooks, they don't have a network connection," said Gates.
"Certainly computing is great," he said, adding that cheaper computers do help ... but "when you're looking at the poorest ... a computer is not their most urgent need," he said.
Computers, according to Gates, are not "even in their top five. You need a schoolroom, you need a teacher who shows up, you need electricity, and then once you get past that, that's where a direct use of shared technology comes in."
The software visionary, who shaped the modern software industry, will end his full-time employment this year at the company he co-founded. He will remain Microsoft's chairman but he will devote his time to philanthropy.
Since its inception in 1994, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has granted more than US$16 billion. It has a current endowment of US$38.7 billion. It spreads grants domestically and internationally to help education, primarily for fighting disease among the world's poorest countries.
"Vaccination," according to Gates, is the best technology for the poor. "Small pox killed millions, and now it was the first disease that was completely eliminated. We continue to add new vaccines. That's a huge area of funding for the foundation. Looking for an AIDS vaccine, a tuberculosis vaccine, a malaria vaccine ... That would make a dramatic difference."
Gates believes that people need to adjust their priorities: "Malaria kills one million people a year; baldness hasn't killed anyone yet ... less than 10 percent of the money spent on curing baldness is spent on fighting malaria."
"The foundation work is more at the beginning. But we have ambitious goals. In some ways, the way I get to work with brilliant people at Microsoft or the way I get to work with brilliant people who work on malaria or tuberculosis or micro-finance, it's very similar."
Gates' current title at Microsoft is chief software architect and he remains interested in improving the operating system.
Asked if he could start over and develop an operating system from scratch, what would he do?
Nothing.
Rather, as computers get faster and storage more expansive, "the operating system gets richer," he said, noting that it's better to build upon what's already in place.
"So things like adding touch, speech, Ink (a notes program for tablet PCs) ... those will be part of Windows running in a personal computer, Windows running in a phone, Windows running in a car, Windows running in your set-top box connected to the TV set," he said.
"The operating system is taking on new things. The fact that it continues to run the applications that you're familiar with and that you've bought in the past, that's a real value for users," said Gates. "People are going to keep using the keyboard and the mouse."
Later this year, commercial applications for one of Gates' top projects, a technology called Microsoft Surface, will start showing up "in hotel lobbies, restaurant and stores," he said.
Think of a Surface as a giant touchscreen iPhone. Users will be able to open several applications at once and move them around atop a giant surface -- from photos to spreadsheets -- as needed.
Over the next two years, he sees surface tables in conference rooms and living rooms.
"Even your mirror," Gates said. "You can look at yourself and see what you'd look like in different wardrobes."
He called this a "natural interface technology," and it's the type of application Gates feels will drive the next generation of software.
Other examples include a live search program -- what Gates calls Tell Me -- that runs on some Windows Mobile-operated phones and the Ink software for tablet PCs, which is gaining traction in health care and some schools.
Gates may be better-known for his work in philanthropy this century, but be certain his imprint on what's next in software will still be felt.
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