you know uh bill there's something that

i really love about the windows 95 it's

really cool and uh it just it comes up

right here and you know okay now well

that's it's okay now look there they're

flying toasters look see they're

toasters and they're flying and then oh

here comes the branded and god look at

the goblin i'm gonna

wow

cool

make that fly let me see that thing fly

wow what did you think of that quiz

machine very impressive piece of

equipment until it exploded wasn't it

i've seen better

now now at microsoft i have a feeling

that you guys must have a vast research

and development department new ideas

come across your desk every minute of

every day don't they pretty much almost

yeah so now if something like the quiz

machine failed what would you do what

course of action would you take

um

i'd recall it recall it

but wouldn't you fire a lot of people

first no

no

let's uh i have like a million things to

ask you first of all if you can describe

for us succinctly what it is that you

did better and first that put you where

you are today what was the core of this

what was the seed what is the essence of

microsoft when and how did that happen

okay

uh i think there's a lot of elements

that go into it a vision of what

software dude what was your vision well

a computer on every desk and in every

home right i don't have one on my home

or in my channel working

but there was more to it than just that

vision you must have known how early did

you realize you knew something that

could be exploited and to to this

extreme well there were a small group of

people who saw

what this chip could do is it became

more powerful and we sort of felt like a

special group because we were all

working on it we thought someday these

big computer companies are going to have

a huge problem

and this thing is going to reach out to

the entire world but every year we just

kept hiring more people working on it

it's been 20 years since we started it

and we're not really to the full

realization of that vision even even

today yeah but this came to you more or

less when you were in high school you

were so far ahead of people in your high

school class with knowledge of computers

that they the school hired you didn't

they that's right i did the the school

scheduling it was a very nice position

to be in

and how did you make that work to your

advantage well we we had uh 80 boys and

20 girls but in my classes they were all

girls just you because you worked the

schedule into the there you go

why

why don't i have a computer

we need we need to find an application

for you part of your problem is you have

too many assistants

they're

they're like human computers they're

doing everything for you right uh maybe

you should let them have computers but i

think some of them do i you know

certainly haven't met all of them but i

think some of them do

but but you know i think about this and

what about this internet thing do you do

you know anything about that sure

what what the hell is that exactly

well it's it's become a place where

people are publishing information so

everybody can have their own home page

companies are there the latest

information it's wild what's going on

you can send electronic mail to people

uh it is the big new thing yeah but you

know uh it's easy to criticize something

you don't fully understand which is my

position here go ahead but i can

remember a couple of months ago there

was like a big breakthrough announcement

that on the internet or on some computer

deal they were going to broadcast a

baseball game you could listen to a

baseball game on your computer and i

just thought to myself

does radio ring a bell

you know what i mean

there's there's a difference there is a

difference it's not a huge difference

what is the difference but you can you

can listen to the baseball game whenever

you want all right two oh i see so it's

stored in one of your memory deals

exactly

you talked about

yeah do tape recorders ring a bell

[Laughter]

uh

yeah i just i just don't know what what

can you just knowing me the little you

know me now what how what am i missing

here what do i need well if you want to

learn about the latest cigars or uh auto

racing right uh statistics well you know

i've got that covered i subscribe to two

british magazines devoted entirely to

motorsports and i call the quaker state

speed line about two times a half hour

so now now would the computer give me

more than i'm getting that way well you

can find other people who have the same

unusual interests you do uh and

you mean

you mean the troubled loner chat room on

the internet

absolutely

[Laughter]

uh

i think one day i'll get one of these

deals but i you know i've played with

them and then you you know you type it

in and then you get that thing that

little arrow is that the arrow you move

it and then it's just you know it's like

oh i get it it's an eye test what are we

um
tell me about your house are you in your

new house yet no i'm still building that

i'm hoping to move in by the end of 96.

is this just like the coolest house of

all time uh for me it's the coolest

house of all time what are the things

you've designed for the house that

really you're very excited about

i've got a a trampoline room uh that i

can go and use

a trampoline room that's right this is

like an actual trampoline or like a

computer non-virtual this is this is the

real deal

sure and you have artwork that can be

changed right i have very high quality

screens uh throughout the house and so i

can call up i can take a topic like

scientists or russia or renaissance

paintings and so different ones of

images related to that topic will come

up and

wherever i go you get those high quality

displays man uh how many square feet is

this

well it's it's fairly big

what are we talking about oh more than

50 000 square feet 50 000 square foot

this theater is not that big bill

it's got different parts it's got a

place where i can entertain

uh

oh well that's good you don't want to

treat yourself on that

okay

is there something now beyond what we

understand about computers that uh like

20 years ago we didn't fully understand

computers is there now another level of

something maybe we haven't even thought

of it maybe it's not even possible maybe

you know a whole different

mechanism a whole different software and

hardware or is this going to be it now

through the end of time mostly what

working on now is the computer being a

tool a tool to help us learn or find

other people with the same interests

eventually we may figure out how to make

the computer think but

that turns out to be a very tough

problem in fact there's been almost no

progress made on it so nobody knows when

that'll happen some people think it'll

never happen yeah we don't want them to

think do we

not really i don't think

it's it's a scary thought yeah it's too

bad there's no money in this too isn't

it

just a shame

um

the the book is called uh the road ahead

and bill thank you very much i can't i

can't thank you for your help here with

the big quiz machine tonight

[Music]

Mostly what working on now

Is the computer being a tool
A tool to help us learn or find other people with the same interests
Eventually we may figure out how to make the computer think
But that turns out to be a very tough problem
In fact there's been almost no progress made on it
So nobody knows when that'll happen
Some people think it'll never happen
Yeah we don't want them to think not really
Yeah, it's a scary thought yeah