New Magazine Unveils 'Gates' Law,' Bill Gates' Vision of the Future Ubiquity of Information
PR Newswire - December 31, 1997 08:30
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Context, a new business magazine focusing on the impact of technology on
business, features Bill Gates' perspective on the future of technology
CHICAGO, Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ _- With 1998 rapidly approaching, experts
predict the pace of technological change will continue to accelerate during
the coming years, having widespread implications for how corporations will
conduct business. Context, a new quarterly business magazine focusing on the
strategic uses of technology, features an exclusive interview with Microsoft
Chairman Bill Gates in the cover story of its premiere issue. Gates discusses
his views on the coming widespread availability of information and how this
will fundamentally change the way businesses compete in the future.
Dubbed "Gates' law" by Context editor-in-chief Paul Carroll, a partner at
consulting firm Diamond Technology Partners, the article states that within a
decade, business information will become available to everyone, transforming
the way corporations compete.
If you've followed information technology, you're bound to have heard of
Moore's law, which states that the processing power of computer chips will
double every 18 to 24 months. When Gordon Moore, Intel's chairman emeritus,
made this observation back in 1965, he had no idea just how accurate it would
be. But now, more than 30 years after he formulated it, we can see that
Moore's law has been incredibly accurate.
"Unlike Moore's law, which has taken several decades to prove itself,
we'll know whether Gates' law proves as accurate much sooner than many
businesses would like," says Carroll. "Those companies that fail to keep up
with the breakneck advances in information technology will find that the new
millennium could bring the end instead of a new beginning."
Gates' law
"Imagine," Gates tells Carroll, "that information was just totally
available. All the information you wanted about what is going on with
customers, the market, resources, and possible partnerships was totally
available to you. In 10 years, you'll just take it for granted."
"Knowing something your competitor doesn't can provide critical advantages
in a highly competitive environment. With Gates' law of ubiquitous
information, it will be very difficult for one company to have access to
information that its competitors don't," says Carroll. "So the companies that
survive and prosper will be those that do the best jobs of using this
information to their advantage."
Will all of this information be free? No, according to Gates. But
executives "will be able to take advantage of the incredible building blocks
that are out there" to make changes to improve business, such as making it
easier for customers to give them feedback and tailoring their dealings with
customers, suppliers, and others to become more responsive and efficient.
"It's not like just one company will figure out how to do it. But between now
and 10 years out, there will be a few who get it faster than the others," says
Gates.
Myhrvold's Corollaries
Along with Gates' law of ubiquitous information, the article also offers a
sidebar of observations by Microsoft's chief thinker-in-residence, Nathan
Myhrvold. Myhrvold makes three predictions:
First, all electrical appliances will become "smart," i.e., have a central
processor, some memory, and so on. Second, much as today, users' expectations
will continue to outstrip reality, so customers will continue to gripe about
their computers' performance. And third, even more than today, the demands
that software makes on computing resources will continue to be just beyond
what is available.
Context, published by Diamond Technology Partners, is a
controlled-circulation publication that is distributed quarterly to
approximately 35,000 senior executives in the United States. The magazine
explores how to do business in a world transformed by technology and
challenges readers to consider new theories of doing business. A companion
web site, featuring interactive content, can be accessed at
www.contextmag.com.
Diamond Technology Partners Incorporated is a management-consulting firm
that creates digital business strategies to improve its clients' competitive
positions. Headquartered in Chicago, the company serves clients primarily in
the telecommunications, insurance, health care, financial services and
consumer products and services industries.
SOURCE Diamond Technology Partners
/CONTACT: Julia Wallace, of Diamond Technology Partners, 312-255-5055; or
Nathan May, of Fleishman-Hillard, 212-453-2221, for Diamond Technology
Partners/
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