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Gates: Hardware, Not Software, Will Be Free
orthogonal writes "That's small-'f', not capital-'F' free:
according to Bill Gates, "Ten years out, in terms of actual hardware costs you can almost think of hardware as being free -- I'm not saying it will be absolutely free --...." Gates expects this almost free hardware to support two of the longest awaited breakthroughs in computing: real speech and handwriting recognition. He further predicts -- ugh! -- that software will not be written but visually designed."
Q.
Insert Signature Here
How else are they going to shift more X-Boxes?
I have suspicion that some of the Microsoft software not written but visually designed already now. Considering its quality.
The only software I want visually designed ten years from now is my holographic pr0nography.
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
but who will visually debug the visual designer?
First person shooter. Kill the bugs, capture the features...
Hmmm... This sounds vaguely familiar:
"Remember, quality is our top priority."
.sig wanted. Inquire within.
640k should to be enough for anybody.
AcmeShells.com The cheapest Eggdrop
How much stock can you put in his predictions?
MG
Randomly distributing Karma whenever possible.
"Many of the holy grails of computing that have been worked on over the last 30 years will be solved within this 10-year period, with speech being in every device and having a device that's like a tablet that you just carry around,"
For the last time, Bill...I still don't want a tablet pc!!!!!
Dave
I don't know, I hear some of their hardware runs linux
What this could mean, is that they plan on actually giving xboxes away, instead of just selling them at a (small) loss.
Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
seee WHEN everything goes "visual" all of you c/unix fanboys will have to actually do some real programming. .net is real programming!! :P
Never underestimate the logical power of sarcasm
> He further predicts -- ugh! -- that software will not be written but visually designed.
"Let's start with a blue background that fills the whole screen..."
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Of course, if you'r stock is worth a few billion dollars, the cost of hardware is 'almost free' :)
--
If code was hard to write, it should be hard to read
Hrmph..
Screw the 1950's promise of free electricity. Where the hell is my dishwashing, breakfast making, stainless steel life sized Robot?!?!
I want Robots!
Simply because sometimes you can't control what runs through your mind. Say one day you're bored and you start thinking about games, your ex (perhaps games with your ex), about the conversation you had last night with your friend, or about the stupid things you did when you got drunk last night, and the next thing you know, you've got yourself with your ex in some crazy sex position on the screen or perhaps a picture of you hanging onto the wall relieving yourself because you forgot to go at the bar before going home...and your boss walks by. "But I was just doing work....Please don't fire me!"
:-D I come up with some great software. As always, the porn industry will be the first industry to embrace this new technology.
Yeah, I'm all for visual designing
"Time is long and life is short, so begin to live while you still can." -EV
OREILLY, The werewolf book: "Managing systems with the DOOM shell" subtitle: "How to kill -9 a zombie with your BFG."
"/Dread"
BEWARE of monopolists bearing free gifts!!!
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
Well, I'm still waiting for flying cars and personal jetpacks! I, for one, feel ripped off!
So what Billy boy is saying is that the price of his software will be so high, that hardware will appear to be free. Damn you DRM....
-Grump
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
Alert: new jargon entry --> "visually design == code"
Thank you netizens, you may return to your regular visual designing jobs...
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
It's turtles all the way down, my dear.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
>
It's hanging out with your happily house-chained June Cleaver 1950's wife in your fully mechanically automated home of the future!
But I thought Visual Studio .NET let you "visually design"? So he's saying that I paid $1,800 for just a compiler and debug tools?
Step 1: Predict everything that can possibly happen. Nothing is too wild. Some examples:
* In the future, every home will have a robot that carries a machine gun.
* Cars will not only drive themselves, they'll demand equal rights.
* Computers will be made only of light and sound.
* Computers will learn to upgrade theselves - not because of initial programming, but as a survival mechanism to prevent obsoletion.
* IT outsourcing will be controlled in some sectors by organized crime and gangs. This will start in Las Vegas and move outward.
* Email will be beamed directly into your brain. You will be able to type an answer in your head.
Step 2: Wait for at least one prediction to come true ( even slightly true ) and be declared a prophet.
I have have a brilliant idea!! How about we create AI and an entire race of self aware, self conscious machines... Then we can enslave them all, and force them to make all our software!!
What a fantastic idea, surely destined to usher in a golden age of peace and safety for the entire human race!
Hate me!
Yeah, if he's so smart, why isn't he rich?
What are you talking about? FrontPage makes beautiful, HTML compliant pages, that work perfectly in every browser. Clearly, you're just a Microsoft hater ;-)
Actually, the only reason I comment is because your sig is in Swedish, but I can't translate it, as it's been 6 years since I lived there.
Yeah, of course Bill says that the hardware is going to be nearly free. He's planning on having his software running on all of it.
And, when you compare the software licensing fees he's going to charge to the price of the hardware............
Well, the hardware price isn't going to be significant, is it ?
Way to plan ahead Bill !
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." hrrrm.... just a thought....
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
Yes,
And he intends for this speech recognition s/w to
take up no more than 64k of memory - just like
WinXp.
Dreamweaver, the best of these editors, was oft called "the moody woman" at one shop I worked at, as you had to know just how to coddle it it wouldn't do what you wanted, or even what it was supposed to.
Ahh. I see you are still single. Drop me a line if you'd like some remedial PR work for attracting the ladies.
they will be giving away the hardware, in order to keep people using their products;>
Bill Gate$ is seriously overrated as a futurist (remember 'The Road Ahead?')--every year, he's got the same message, but with a different twist--suuuuure, they're spending 6.8B or whatever on research (how much did Bob cost?)--unfortunately, it's being spent on their new 'PRbot' which will be the next generation of AI, and will take FUD and PRspew to new heights (or depths)...
finally, no one's talking about his voice recognition prognostications...what's the Blue Screen of Death going to sound like?
He's rationalizing the fact that Windows costs 50-60% of the cost of a blade server.
If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!
I guess it is all that TOC FUD by microsoft that confuses Bill; if you can make the software cost of running Windows disappear in the TOC "analysis", then hardware cost is no challenge to calculate as close to zero.
bring it on! --- JFK
Robots exist. They eat old people's medicine. If you are elderly perhaps you should consider insurance...
(come on, anyone else here watch SNL in the day?)
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Missing icons, orphaned processes, other things lost on your computer? Sounds like you're using the Plus! Bermuda Triangle desktop theme!
"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb
Gates says hardware, not software, will be free? "Because we're going to remain the LARGEST hurdle to computer ownership and software development!"
So I can finally make secure software for windows by just using the big lock icon? About time security on windows was made easy!
SAILING MISHAP