A Long Chat with Bill Gates

Bill Gates talks to the D audience on opening night about a number of initiatives, including his feelings about Apple, perceived competitors, Windows Media Player, Search and ‘whats next,' including a new demo, showing a cleaner user interface.

"Chairman Bill," the title he joked about, emphasizing that this isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. Even where he sits, he seems to know a lot about what’s happening in each product group. Everything except for naming, says Bill.

We discuss Xbox versus Playstation, what it meant to Microsoft and the industry that they came to market late with a higher price point. “Xbox is not like the PC, its almost like a little Apple and it will likely not change in the next few years…….Today, we’re smaller and lighter now,” says Bill and “it’s going to be a fun competition.”

It appears that they won’t give up here, as much as they won’t give up on portable music players and search. And on the Media Center, he says, "we've worked with other players to really get this right."

The treo discuss the G-Drive, and Bill says, “What you’d really like to have is your photos stored locally, but also online in case of a fire or other likely disaster. Digital music is stored on a client and that’s an issue. I want my rights available to me anywhere,” says Bill.

Walt adds as the audience laughs, “I don’t even want to think about licenses.” He has to repeat this because Bill doesn't immediately get 'his point.'

So, what about subscription models and why isn’t this taking off the way it perhaps should / could? On the market today, there are those who buy CDs and wrip them or download illegally or legally to convert their favorites into a digital format. So, does it essentially boil down to the right price point? How much is price alone the issue?

(I’ll add, perceived value of what it costs to me as a consumer. There’s so much confusion right now). It’s really going to be the right price point that make people feel ‘comfortable’ enough amidst this confusion to start adopting this model on a global scale.

Kara asks him about the tablet PC, which we now learn has an approximate 2 million installed base, up by 60%. It hasn’t reached mainstream yet, however; it is largely still being used in vertical market industries, such as medical and insurance.

Gates seems to be open to subscription models, but “it has to be the right price point for consumers. This has to be right.” He also thinks that things will end up in a component model and he talks about the growth of digital video and social media/networking services, which have clearly exploded in the past couple of years.

A Demo of Microsoft's new user interface -- coming when??

Then we turn to a few of my favorites. Bill asks, as if to himself, while waving his arms, “Isn’t VoIP and IM essentially the same thing? I would say yes.” He adds, “What you need is your ability to better define relationships…..in a better way than what we have today. We haven’t really seen anything yet that pulls it all together.”

We learn that Bill watches both the Harlem Globetrotters and physics lecturers on YouTube. Who knew? My first thought was oddly this -- what’s it like for Melinda to live with someone who watches both kinds of content in the same hour and does he do this with a laptop on his lap in front of the tellie while she watches something more mainstream? A curiosity and something to think about – for some of us.

On a YouTube-like model for Microsoft, he says half jokingly, “people would only ask why would we do that? How would we make money? Then there’s the illegal content aspect.”

My second favorite tidbit was when he raised the Q to the audience and waved it around. Bill refers to these kinds of devices as a ‘reality acquisition device,’ a term that was referenced for the rest of the audience and almost always received a chuckle.

Bill continues, “They’re like augmentation devices.” You can replay a sporting event, use it as a GPS system, in business for bar coding, listen to music, send email, take and view photos and more.

Hmmmmm, another curiosity and something to think about it. I’ll have to write more about my experiences with my ‘reality acquisition devices,’ which no doubt will resonate with mainstream consumers.

Below the gift from Walt and Kara (made in China) -- something that Bill probably doesn't yet own.

I have to say that Bill increasingly does a remarkable job winning the audience over, diffusing issues, but also respectively admitting where there are some demonstrating a willingness to change things. Whether this happens and when 'something will ship' is another thing, but bottom line, he's graceful on stage and really has 'that messaging down.' Perhaps he should look into the political scene?

Also note that his shoes are improving. It's a clear distinction between a geek and a non-geek, so for some reason, I always take notice at events like this. I also took a shot of Al Gore's shoes - coming in a future blog post. I'm behind. No wi-fi here.

Tag: D 2006
Tag: D4
Tag: Bill Gates