Bill Gates, who steps down as full-time
chairman of
Microsoft in July this year, told an Institute of Director
audience that "we should wish other parts of commerce were as
competitive as software".
Gates spoke in response to a law firm CIO's complaint that
"there is very little competition in corporate IT, unlike in
consumer IT". Microsoft is the only IT firm whose terms and
conditions are rigid, he said.
"Show me your terms and conditions with IBM", said Gates. "We
will match them".
The Microsoft chief was speaking at an IoD "World Leader Lunch"
event, during which he demonstrated a
hosted software Customer Relationship Management product.
His theme was that the pace of technology change will be faster
in the next 10 years than since 1998, and that "more and more
activities will move to the internet".
Asked if what he would do if he were dropping out of Harvard
today, as he did in 1976, to form a company, he said, "possibly
something to do with biology or energy, but software is still the
coolest thing".
