Posted on 05/06/2008 1:46:14 PM PDT by kingattax
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said there will be a vast shift in Internet technology over the next decade as he met Tuesday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
"We're approaching the second decade of (the) digital age," the software mogul and philanthropist told Lee at the start of their meeting at the presidential Blue House, according to a media pool report.
"The Internet has been operating now for 10 years," Gates said. "The second 10 years will be very different."
Microsoft Corp., the South Korean government and South Korean companies are investing $313 million in information technology for vehicles, games and education, according to a Blue House statement.
Microsoft and automakers Hyundai Motor Inc. and Kia Motors Corp. announced earlier Tuesday a deal to use Microsoft's in-car software, which allows people to control music and telephones with voice commands.
The company has a one-year exclusivity deal on the software with Ford Motor Co. in the U.S., but that expires in November. Fiat also has been selling cars with the software.
"We're doing some very interesting work on automobile software," Gates said after having dinner with Lee. "That's a really wide open area where some very exiting things will come out of."
Lee, a conservative former construction CEO, swept into office in February with a vow to boost economic growth through deregulation and increasing foreign investment.
In the Blue House statement, Gates was quoted as saying that new deals would boost South Korea's economic growth by as much as $6.9 billion over the next five years.
Gates, at a later event sponsored by South Korean television network SBS, talked about the future of software and human interaction in the next decade.
"We can expect that the variety and quality of software will accelerate in the years ahead," the Microsoft co-founder said.
Gates added that "natural interaction" between hardware and software was finally becoming possible, citing as an example speech commands to computers.
"The whole environment will be very, very different," he said.
Microsoft also said Tuesday that it will invest $280 million to build a research and development center in China's capital Beijing, and will double the number of its full-time research staff in China to 3,000 in three to five years
Is it going to cook my dinner?
Just let me know when high speed internet is available at my house (satellite connection does not count).
...the software mogul and philanthropist told Lee at the start of their meeting at the presidential Blue House...
Billy boy, you just don't get it, do you?
Microsoft didn't invent the Internet in 1998...
Internet Explorer 1.0 was released in 1995, 13 years ago. I guess it just displayed an hourglass for the first three years until the Internet was started ten years ago.
The big break through in terms of the general public awareness was Netscape which came out in 1994.
Imagine having to reboot your car while it’s stopped dead in the middle of a busy intersection!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Great! I can now upgrade from Mosaic.
The Internet has generally been an area where Microsoft has been reduced to playing catch-up. What makes anybody think that Bill Gates has any particularly valuable insights about its future?
As long as he or Microsoft are not in any way involved in it, it won’t die within a week.
Microsoft and Gates were late to the Internet party. Did he mention that, too?
Arrogant little prick, isn't he?
Why not invest here? Oh wait he can pay 4.00 an hour over there and they steal our technology anyway.
Did you hear about the four computer engineers who were carpooling to work? One day their car broke down. In order to fix it, they all got out of the car and then got back in again. :^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.