Gates: In 2014, magic software, free hardware - ZDNet :

Within 10 years, said Gates, hardware could be considered as almost free, with powerful server and desktop systems, high bandwidth networks and wireless technology bringing anytime, anywhere connections.

Gates also said that speech technology would become mainstream in every device in this ten year period. However, combining speech and ink as standard human-computer interaction modes will give users and developers more interface options and flexibility in a single device. "This is like graphical user interface where as soon as you get the form factor right and the software right, it's just common sense," Gates said.

According to Gates, 75 percent of the $6.8 billion R&D budget is for projects in the development phase, with the majority going into creating more secure software. He predicted that within the next two years Microsoft would be able to remove security as one of its top five research and development priorities.

In reference to setting a date for the Longhorn, Gates said that the operating system release is not date driven. "People are speculating that we're out in 2006 sometime, and that's probably valid speculation, but this is not a date-driven release"