It seems to me that Bill Gates can’t be a geek anymore. At a recent Microsoft Asia forum he said that the future will be web-based apps, touch interfaces, and robotic artificial intelligence. This boils down to Bill saying a) Office is going to get eaten b) the iPhone is kicking butt c) the Roomba is great.
Why doesn’t the richest man in the world offer more than these tired bromides? I think it’s all about stock price. If Gates got up there yelling about alien technologies that crash landed on the Redmond campus that will enable time-travel and instant genetic mutation through the application of rich, Greek yogurts, the resulting “forward looking statements” would be perceived by investors and the SEC as bankable information. That’s why he kind of sticks to basics – “The Internet is great” – and not the hyperbolic – “I will soon replace my legs with the cybernetic body of a stallion.” For prognostication I encourage you to read William Gibson and Cory Doctorow.