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Bill Gates Talk From 1989 Surfaces

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hard-to-make-predictions-especially-about-the-future dept.

70sstar writes "A 1-1/2 hour recording of Bill Gates addressing a crowd of university students in 1989 was recently found and digitized, and has been circulating in some IRC channels for the past few weeks. The speech has found a permanent home on the web page of the University of Waterloo CS Club, where the talk is reported to have taken place. Gates covers the past, present, and future of computing as of 1989. While the former two might be of interest to tech historians, the real fascination is Gates's prediction of computing yet to come. Like the now-legendary '640k' remark, some of his comments are almost laughably off-target ('OS/2 is the way of the future!'). And yet, by and large, he had accurately, chillingly, prophesied an entire decade or two of software and hardware development. All in all, a fascinating talk from one of the most powerful speakers in CS and IT."

8 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Shh...poster was being smug! by HarryCaul · · Score: 5, Funny


    Don't interfere with Bill-Bashing!

  2. Re:Sysadmin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I was said sysadmin I would be changing my numbers right about... now.

  3. He thought OS/2 would be the perfect platform... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...for Duke Nukem Forever.

  4. 30 minutes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    1-1/2 hour = 30 minutes

    Oh wait...

  5. Re:One thing is obvious from the photograph by jd · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's because geeks have a genetically-implanted dress sense from hyper-intelligent beings from another world. Those who lack the genes necessary give in to their ancestral ape-man desires for suits and ties.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  6. Ahem.. by FMota91 · · Score: 4, Funny
    You ARE posting on slashdot. Let me correct your statement...

    Everyone cares about these fabulous corrections and technicalities. Keep it coming, it's really bitchin'.
    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C1 bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, pass it round... Oh, umm...
  7. Re:Enough with the conspiracy theories by mh101 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Steve Ballmer made a great speech a company meeting. He said that Microsoft had been sending a mixed message to customers: if you have this kind of hardware buy Windows, if you have that kind of hardware buy OS/2. He said that from now on, there would be a new message: "Windows! Windows! Windows!!!" He shouted himself hoarse saying it.
    I guess that was practice for his "Developers developers developers developers" speech.

    --
    Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
  8. Re:Imagine... by kv9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Then one day this fellow shows up with a Vespa and says, "You should sell these Vespa scooters too.." What do you do..?

    I repeatedly slam a car door against your head for using yet another computer/car analogy on Slashdot

    --
    Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S