So, the notebook, the TV, and a couple of other things are things that we’re just going to laugh about in a few years. Any others that strike you as things that are just hopelessly outmoded, that are maybe one technological breakthrough away from obsolescence?
Gates: If you look at the ones that have already gone away, like the CD, it took about five years from when at first people said that it wouldn’t happen. Now it hasn’t happened, but the writing is on the wall in terms of those trends. With the encyclopedia, it took a long time from when we started doing Encarta, the Wikipedia guys started doing their thing, before now you really can say, hey, the depth, the richness, it’s completely changed; likewise with photography. A decade is a good period of time to take because for many of these things, that’s where you go from avant-garde to common sense.
The Microsoft chairman is looking ahead to the time later this year when he will be focused full-time on fighting disease and poverty, while also trying to do everything he can to help his software company in its battle against Google. These days, that includes trying to sell Microsoft’s $40 billion plus offer for Yahoo, not only to Wall Street, but also to all those Yahoo folks that Gates has his eye on. Lets read the interview with the Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates.
There’s been a lot of progress in the world of high definition in the last few days. HD DVD has fallen, and just yesterday, video host Dailymotion rolled out its new HD player. While every visitor of the site with a fast broadband connection has access to the new HD player, only two types of content providers can actually upload HD content to it.
Yahoo announced Tuesday that it has snapped up online video platform provider Maven Networks, in a $160 million deal. What makes the transaction particularly interesting is that it comes as Yahoo is butting heads with Microsoft, which not so very long ago launched a $44.6 billion unsolicited bid for Yahoo. As the companies fight over Yahoo’s proper valuation, add to the mix the Maven acquisition.
