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| CURRENT SECTION :: TechZone | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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Steve Ballmer has been seen taking over the reigns of Microsoft by opening the world’s biggest IT trade fair in a role once reserved for company chairman Bill Gates. Delivering his first keynote at CeBIT, Ballmer played the visionary role of Microsoft’s outgoing number one through outlining the next five years of computing. He said fundamental change to how all computers are used would be central to the “fifth computer revolution”, thanks to enormous capacity and almost endless memory. Pointing to the already-trumpeted Surface Computer, Ballmer said smart interfaces would make paper a thing of the past, either in computer revolution five or in six. “I have witnessed four computer revolutions in my 28 years in the computer industry”, he explained In the first revolution, PCs became products for the general public. The next milestones were the development of graphical user interfaces, the rise of the internet, and recently the interactive Web 2.0. Ballmer said that the fourth revolution, Web 2.0, began in 2002, the last time he was in Hanover for the IT fair, which he hailed on Monday as the “most important” in the world. “If this seven-year rhythm continues, then we are now at the end of the fourth revolution and at the beginning of the fifth. “High-speed connections are everywhere, and systems can be operated with voice and gesture input,” he said of the near future. The changes, enabled through smarter software, would help the world react to climate change and other global challenges, including delivery of mass health care and education. After listening to Ballmer, German chancellor Angela Merkel hinted his vision was right, in that technology should not just be developed just because it can. “Be excited about technology, provided it serves people”, she said, alongside pondering how a mature cultural society should react to technological development. She also said Germany’s federal system was less flexible than the centralised structures in France when it comes to implement mass IT plans. But she vowed progress is being made, and pointed to the deployment of electronic health cards, which will begin next year. The trade fair also heard from President Nicolas Sarkozy who called for greater Franco-German cooperation, particularly for the development of new high-performance computers. “We will not succeed alone”, the French president said. "Rather, Germany and France must join forces and work together.” Similar political noises came from Ms Merkel, who said that if Germany and France cannot agree on issues, presumably not just technology, then there can be no agreement in the rest of the EU. Mar 6, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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