ITU 03: Gates talks up the Digital Decade

Four years to the day after his last keynote speech at the ITU Telecom World show, Bill Gates today reiterated Microsoft's promise to bridge the worlds of IT and telephony with what his company knows best – software.

The Microsoft chairman and chief software architect opened with a "message of excitement and optimism", predicting new revenue and business models because of the coming together of IT and – especially – mobile telephony.

The company's main news has been a tie up for mobile web services with Vodafone. However, Gates was also keen to talk up the 'Digital Decade', the period from 2000-2009 when production, distribution and consumption of all kinds of material will increasingly move from analogue to digital. In doing so, he was sharing the main thesis of HP's Carly Fiorina and many others at the quadrennial show.

Indeed, two of the few themes to emerge in the last four years formed the basis for most of his presentation to the packed auditorium: web services, which are all about connecting software over the internet using XML to enable dynamic services for consumers and businesses, and broadband, especially broadband wireless.

Microsoft yesterday released software which should help public Wi-Fi hotspot operators by allowing branding and easier authentication and encryption but Gates also touted home wireless LANs – increasingly sold as a bolt-on to broadband access – and WLAN in the workplace, which he called "a common sense productivity tool".

He added: "The number of services that will come along over broadband I think will surprise all of us."

Otherwise much of Gates' presentation could have been lifted from four years ago. Introduced as "one of the best friends of our industry", he again spoke positively about telecoms and whereas last time saw a Windows CE-based smart phone with a browser and messaging, this time the audience were treated to the mobile web services demo featuring the latest E200 "variant" SPV smart phone from Orange.

The other big development mentioned would prompt many to look on enviously in the post-bubble era – Microsoft's R&D budget has gone up from $3bn to $6.8bn per year over the past four years. No wonder he had a lot to get through.