Gates Touches on Broadband Policy, EU Antitrust, IP in China
STANFORD, Cal. -- Asked if the U.S. should have had a broadband-promotion policy as some E. Asian countries devised, Microsoft Chmn. Bill Gates said “our broadband penetration is sort of middle of pack.” But much regulation -- including Telecom Act facilities-sharing requirements -- “actually holds us back,” he said Wed. in an interview with Charlie Rose at TechNet’s Innovation Summit here. As the Internet continues to absorb TV and landline voice, broadband penetration will improve, Gates said.
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Gates voiced satisfaction with the outcome of EU scrutiny regarding the forthcoming Vista operating system’s competition aspects. “We made a few changes, but the big question was whether they would make us take out major features,” he said: “None of these regulatory agencies told us to make major changes.” Microsoft showed that adding security protections and other features will help consumers and raise the bar for competitors, not stifle competition, he said. Gates sees why competitor lobbying for stronger regulatory action on Vista, he said: “If you can castrate someone’s product, what a free lunch that would be.”
“The progress China is making on intellectual property is amazing,” Gates said. The Chinese got serious about protection because “they understand they'll be net contributors” -- benefitting more from protection of works from China than from infringement of others’, he said.
Asked by an audience member about public libraries’ future, Gates said their role will hold for about a decade. But then “pervasive cheap tablets” will mean “most reading will not be off of paper, it will be off that flat screen… The idea of a stack of books will be less important,” he said. Then libraries’ priorities will shift to providing literacy education and places for young people to gather, Gates said.