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Monday 17th November 2003

Bill Gates outlines an Era of Seamless Computing 4:13PM, Monday 17th November 2003

Bill Gates has outlined another vision for the future of computing - an Era of Seamless Computing. This involves smart devices, software and services work all working seamlessly together - how people schedule their time, store their photos, play music, etc.

Speaking at the start of Comdex 2003 in Las Vegas, he also announced the next version of the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system, showed off Microsoft's new anti-spam SmartScreen Technology and demoed a new version of Microsoft's next-generation Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server.

The new Tablet PC operating system should be available in the first half of 2004 and will be free for Tablet PC customers. Gates said the new OS deepens integration of Pen support, simplifies the creation of text anywhere in Windows-based apps and makes it easier for developers to add inking support to new and existing applications.
He made positive noises about Tablet PCs being adopted as a mainstream laptop PC in a wide range of businesses - contradicted somewhat by recent reports on Tablet take ups - and announced three new Tablet PCs from Toshiba, ViewSonic and Gateway.

Returning to the theme of 'Seamless Computing', he described it as the 'next great opportunity for the technology industry is to create

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software that breaks down the barriers between people, systems and information'. Essentially, it is a view on how best for digital information systems to work together.

Gates described it as 'delivering the final level of infrastructure, which is a software connecting infrastructure that connects all your different information together, that lets you work in a very natural way, connects you up to your speech, and your ink, and your photos, all those natural things'.

Reference was also made to Longhorn - the codename for the next-generation version of Windows - and how this would fit into seamless computing.

Gates emphasised the visual aspects of the OS: 'We want to bring visualisation to a whole new level...it's so visual, it's so exciting to say, hey, this is a whole new level of taking the silicon magic.'

Of course Gates expects Microsoft to be at the centre of any computing future, but he described it as an inclusive idea and emphasised the importance of compliance with standards: 'There's a lot of work here for everyone. Customers have to weigh in on what the priorities are, making sure we strike the right balance on issues like the privacy and security issues. Competitors are going to come together to make sure that the standards are driving interoperability to this level, and I think we've done very well on that to date.'

What do you think about the idea of Seamless Computing and Microsoft's role in delivering such a vision? Let us know by leaving a comment via the link below.