Bill Gates was in Paris today. He was invited by Laurence Parisot, the MEDEF's General Manager. He gave a short conference on… the impact new technologies have (and will keep on having) on our lives, whether it's at work or at home.
Reminding us the fantastic way we made in 30 years, he said that the digitization of the economy was maybe "a third of the way along".
To prove his sayings, he showed us a brilliant demo of a distant conference with a system enabling to share and edit documents in real time and a 360° camera showing on a line all the persons sitting around a table. Quite amazing for this "in line 360° view" although not unique for real time conferences; see also Webex.
Then there was a debate, which is a good thing (some chairmen never answer direct questions). I do love English speaking debates with French People. First for our accent (we do struggle but rarely succeed); and also for these far-fetched questions such as: "Bill, Heu… what is your vizion of internet as a sales tchannel? Cinq you" Go ahead Bill, you have one minute to answer the question!
Finally I wonder why he talked about the impact of new technologies. I admire this guy (yes, I dare to write it down!) but we all know he's not Steve Jobs AND he has no special announcement to do. He now gives his time to his foundation. Among his new activities, he cares about "creative capitalism". What I got is that half of the planet remains outside the electronic revolution. Creative Capitalism can and must take them onboard. I was interested but, hard luck, he didn't say how. Lack of time probably. Isn't it an opportunity to invite him again in 2009?
