Universal service monopolies and other government involvement around the world have kept communications costs high. Cable and phone networks are still depreciating networks built with old technology. Most users of communications have not yet seen the price of communications come down significantly. Both the variety and volume of the software will increase. Great software products will be crucial to delivering the benefits of these advances. The combination of these elements will have a fundamental impact on work, learning and play. In the next 20 years the improvement in computer power will be outpaced by the exponential improvements in communications networks. Our response was to build an organization to deliver the best software products. We saw that exponential improvements in computer capabilities would make great software quite valuable. Our vision for the last 20 years can be summarized in a succinct way. To: Executive Staff and direct Reports From: Bill Gates Date: The Internet Tidal Wave
