Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who became one of the richest people in the
world thanks to the success of the personal computer (PC), predicted this
week that the PC would soon be surpassed by consumer-oriented devices that
connect to the Internet.
"There's no doubt some time in the next three to 10 years we'll cross over
that threshold," Gates said.
Gates says that Internet-enabled digital cameras, palmtop devices, and
Internet-ready TV sets would eventually replace PC use for home users,
which represent the largest single market for computing devices. As such,
Internet scalability will need to be enhanced quickly. He used HotMail as
an example of this trend, a Microsoft-owned free email service that adds
over 100,000 new users a day, according to Gates