Bill Gates Technology Quotations

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.

The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.

If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG.

We are in the throes of a transition where every publication has to think of their digital strategy.

Paper is no longer a big part of my day. I get 90% of my news online, and when I go to a meeting and want to jot things down, I bring my Tablet PC. It's fully synchronized with my office machine so I have all the files I need.

The potential financial reward for building the 'next Windows' is so great that there will never be a shortage of new technologies seeking to challenge it.

Technology is unlocking the innate compassion we have for our fellow human beings.

We are not even close to finishing the basic dream of what the PC can be.

Software substitution, whether it's for drivers or waiters or nurses - it's progressing. Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set.

Nathan has been an invaluable contributor to Microsoft, the technology industry and to me personally over the past 13 years. Frankly, I would rather he continue his work at Microsoft, but I support his decision to take a much needed break and explore his passion for science.

I thought digital technology would eventually reverse urbanization, and so far that hasn't happened. But people always overestimate how much will change in the next three years, and they underestimate how much will change over the next 10 years.

We're trying to drive (the technology) to critical mass.

Microsoft has had its success by doing low-cost products and constantly improving those products and we've really redefined the IT industry to be something that's about a tool for individuals.

A great lathe operator commands several times the wage of an average lathe operator, but a great writer of software code is worth 10,000 times the price of an average software writer.

Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.

Robots will play an important role in providing physical assistance and even companionship for the elderly.

We're changing the world with technology.

If your goal is to make the world a better place, one thing you can do is pick a specific challenge that you really care about. Then, learn as much as you can about it and try to volunteer your time to help an organization that is working in this area. While you're doing that, look for creative new ways to use technology to tackle parts of the problem that you come in contact with.

The great thing about a computer notebook is that no matter how much you stuff into it, it doesn't get bigger or heavier.

The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.

When the PC was launched, people knew it was important.

Software substitution, whether it's for drivers or waiters or nurses ... it's progressing. ... Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set. ... 20 years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don’t think people have that in their mental model.

We're only at the beginning of what we have to do here.

The two areas that are changing... are information technology and medical technology. Those are the things that the world will be very different 20 years from now than it is today.

There is a difference between what technology enables and what historical business practices enable.

Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have - whether it's something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.

Our current expectations for what our students should learn in school were set fifty years ago to meet the needs of an economy based on manufacturing and agriculture. We now have an economy based on knowledge and technology.

Apple has always leveraged technologies that the PC industry has driven to critical mass - the bus structures, the graphics cards, the peripherals, the connection networks, things like that - so they're kind of in the PC ecosystem and kind of not.

Digital technology has several features that can make it much easier for teachers to pay special attention to all their students.

The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking.

The people who resist change will be confronted by the growing number of people who see that better ways are available; thanks to technology.

Like many others, I have deep misgivings about the state of education in the United States. Too many of our students fail to graduate from high school with the basic skills they will need to succeed in the 21st Century economy, much less prepared for the rigors of college and career. Although our top universities continue to rank among the best in the world, too few American students are pursuing degrees in science and technology. Compounding this problem is our failure to provide sufficient training for those already in the workforce.

When you want to do your homework, fill out your tax return, or see all the choices for a trip you want to take, you need a full-size screen.

I like my job because it involves learning. I like being around smart people who are trying to figure out new things. I like the fact that if people really try they can figure out how to invent things that actually have an impact.

Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more 'user-friendly'... Their best approach so far has been to take all the old brochures and stamp the words 'user-friendly' on the cover.

People who feared IBM were wrong, ... Technology is ever-changing.

[Smart] is an elusive concept. There's a certain sharpness, an ability to absorb new facts. To ask an insightful question. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first. A certain creativity that allows people to be effective.

WWW? Nice toy, but what a waste of time.

To create a new standard it takes something that's not just a little bit different. It takes something that's really new and really captures people's imagination. And the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.

This is something we're very committed to, it's something that I think people are underestimating right now as they've seen some of the dot-com promises not come through. I think they're missing the fact that the basic technology is moving forward, the new platforms are here and this vision of the digital decade will be a reality.

There's a lot that can be done for people who are using technology in a better way.

If something is expensive to develop, and somebody's not going to get paid, it won't get developed. So you decide: Do you want software to be written, or not?

While we're all very dependent on technology, it doesn't always work.

These four policy prescriptions - strengthening educational opportunities, revamping immigration rules for highly skilled workers, increasing federal funding for basic scientific research, and providing incentives for private-sector R&D - should in my view be top priorities as Congress and the Administration consider how to maintain the nation's leadership in science, technology, and innovation.

Investing in tomorrow's technology today is more critical than ever...

America and Japan are the two leading world economies in terms of technology and innovative products. And in software, information-age technology and biotechnology the U.S. has an amazing lead.

One thing people underestimate is how markets don't allow anyone to do anything except make better and better products. There's not much leeway. The world is a lot more competitive than most people think, particularly in a high-technology area. If a company takes its eye off improving its products, if it tries to do anything that would be viewed as an exercise of power, it'll be displaced very rapidly.

I believe technology will continue to become more affordable and more people will have the chance to use it. This will help more people get medical care and a good education.

Government investment unlocks a huge amount of private sector activity, but the basic research that we put into IT work that led to the Internet and lots of great companies and jobs, the basic work we put into the health care sector, where it's over $30 billion a year in R&D that led the biotech and pharma jobs. And it creates jobs and it creates new technologies that will be productized. But the government has to prime the pump here. The basic ideas, as in those other industries, start with government investment.

By helping us to be more productive, technology lets us to spend less time focusing on survival, and more on solving other challenges.

Whether it's raising donations for favorite causes or recording a first album, the incredible advancements in technology and the Windows platform offer individuals greater opportunities to follow their passions,

I've been struck by the role that technology plays and especially that the Internet played during this crisis. On September 11th hundreds of millions of people relied on the Internet to get news and to communicate with loved ones.

These proposals will have a chilling effect on innovation in the high technology industry, ... Microsoft could never have developed Windows under these rules. Looking forward, this kind of regulation would make it impossible for Microsoft to develop the next generation of great software.

We are entering a digital decade where smart, connected devices and advanced home-entertainment solutions will enable people to utilize technology in new ways and maximize its full potential.

Demands that Microsoft completely hide its Windows user interface and its Internet technology from PC users, and that we ship Netscape's competing software in every copy of Windows, all appear to benefit a single competitor at the expense of consumers,

As I understand it, providing Microsoft's technology to its competitors so they can build 'functional equivalents' of our products now, and match all our future innovations for 10 years, is in fact one of the central objectives,

Technology has always been about making the impossible possible, and with Windows XP we hope to do just that, open up new possibilities.

fantastic things in the field of technology and I am excited to be here.

Europe has really come a long way. The awareness of politicians about technology is a new thing,

There's still a lot of common technology and a common mission that spans all these different groups.

This is a difficult time for our nation and our economy. While this settlement imposes new rules and regulations, we believe that settling the case now is the right thing to do for our customers, for the technology industry and for the economy,

This is clearly the most massive attempt at government regulation of the technology industry ever.

This is a key element of the technology industry getting re-energized and putting productivity back into other sectors of the economy that can get the economy back to where it was a couple of years ago,

Governments around the world tell us that to interoperate effectively they need a more structured approach to building information technology (IT) systems.