Bill Gates: the software revolution has just begun.

• Position: American Thought - Brief Article

The software revolution has only just begun, Microsoft chairman, chief software architect, and cofounder Bill Gates told Stanford (Calif.) University students. While the personal computer (PC) has brought power to the people, software advancements seem more evolutionary than revolutionary to users impatient for more-natural computer interfaces and Internet connectivity anytime, anywhere. However, dramatic improvements are on the horizon, he predicted.

"PCs essentially have become the most-important tool of empowerment and [have] driven a whole wave of productivity and additional communication and research and sharing," Gates stated, noting that 50% of homes now have PCs. "That's really fantastic. If the only thing the technology is used for is the advances in medicine that it enables to take place, that alone would justify everything that has been done. But of course it's far more than that. The key point I want to make is we're really just at the beginning."

What might the future bring? Gates envisioned PCs that prioritize e-mail so users are rarely bothered with low-priority items such as junk mail. On the other hand, a device that's part cell phone, part personal digital assistant could alert a mobile user if a high-priority message like "You've left the water running in the bathtub" were sent. Users could e-mail handwritten notes or listen to music from the Internet while driving in their cars. Technology will be a seamless means of personalizing your environment, wherever you may be, he indicated.

In the home, Gates anticipated a ubiquitous connectivity where technology would allow family members to point at screens to get the family schedule or select music to listen to. "Underneath that there's a lot of technology. There's a lot of networking, network management going on, security to make sure that your information isn't shared with the house next door or anybody that it shouldn't be. And yet you're going to...