Thirty years after founding the world’s biggest software company, and despite being the richest man on the planet, Bill Gates is still very much a techie at heart.

In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Computing during a visit to London last week, Microsoft’s chairman was never more animated and enthusiastic than when discussing the early days of Microsoft when he was writing compilers for the Basic programming language.

‘In 1975 there was the very first personal computer – the Altair 8800 kit computer. There were 13 companies that licensed my software that year. In 1976, 25 licensed it, and in 1977 more than 30 companies licensed it.

‘In 1977 there was the introduction of the Commodore Pet, which sold millions. By 1980, of course, we were designing the IBM PC…’ he says.

His excitement grows when he begins to describe the screen quality of the Commodore Pet.

But today, Gates’ concerns are more fundamental for every computer user and businesses of all sizes: security, the future of the PC, the threat from Google, the growing complexity of IT, even the drop in student numbers on science and technology degree courses.

In a two-part article that continues next week, Gates discusses the past, present and future for Microsoft.

On learning from the past

To his credit, Gates is not afraid to laugh at himself. Asked what he would have done differently 30 years ago if he knew then what he knows now, he replies: ‘I’m hardly in a position to complain.’

Nonetheless, there are a few things he might have changed.

‘There were many areas where we got into something too early,’ he says.

‘For example, internet TV. Now that is going to pay off for us, but we could have started five years later. The tablet PC we probably could have started a few years later than we did. And there were certain parts of our search engine capability we could have started earlier.

‘When Novell came along I thought we should have done more networking – eventually we did. When Netscape did certain things on the browser we thought we needed to match them and do better than what they did.

‘But, overall, the dream we went after, the people we have been able to bring in, the global approach, the focus on breakthrough research, I would not complain about much.’

On Google

Google is generating the sort of stock market and media excitement that was once afforded to the younger Microsoft. The search engine firm is seen by many experts as trying to disrupt the market in much the same way as Gates once did with the rise of the PC.

But, while acknowledging Google as ‘a fine company, a serious competitor’, he is dismissive of the threat.

‘Which Google products are you talking about? Seriously? Other than search, which are you talking about? Google Talk? Wow. A total “me too” product. Even Gmail – what is the unique thing?’ he says.

‘We need to surprise people and do a search that is way better than Google, and we are very on top of that. The idea of development tools, a natural interface, productivity software – Google is not in any of those categories. People are acting as if they will magically be in these other categories with something more than a “me too” offering. It is kind of fun that people underestimate what we are going to do here.’

This would not be the first time that Microsoft has seen off stiff competition.

‘The number of times people have written our death warrant – every four or five years. Now they have a new person’s name on it: it was Netscape, it was Novell, it was IBM, it was Ashton Tate, it was Lotus. There have been many names. The old saying is – tell me where I am going to die, so I will be sure not to go there,’ he says.

‘Just as Word competed with WordPerfect and Excel with Lotus 1-2-3, we have had some fantastic competitors. IBM said it would put us out of business with OS/2 – what were they, 10 times our size? I hope someone has kept a copy of that for the museum.’

And he can’t resist one more dig at the world’s biggest search engine company.

‘Google is great, they are smart people, the press should continue to feed their arrogance as much as possible,’ he says.

‘They say they are going to organise the world’s information. Well, we don’t think that is our job. We think you need to get tools to editors and subject experts to let them organise the world’s information. There is a bit of a philosophy difference here. The only sure winner is the consumer.’

On security

If there is one area where Microsoft has received the most criticism in recent years, it is the security of its software and the regular stream of flaws and patches that make administering a Windows network a pain for many IT professionals.

Gates insists the company is making progress, but recognises there is still some way to go.

‘Over the past three years there has been a real turnaround in terms of people seeing that we are giving this top priority and doing a lot of things no one else is doing,’ he says.

‘We still have a lot of work to do though, in terms of making it so easy that it is just there.’

Solving the security problem also means wider co-operation, he says. For example, Microsoft is one of the main sponsors of the government’s new Get Safe Online campaign (see www.computing.co.uk/2144856).

‘At the industry level there is a lot still not being done. People are using passwords, which are a weak link that can be exploited. There are a lot of policies that society has to have and rules about privacy. You will never avoid the fact that bad guys will be operating in the digital realm,’ says Gates.

‘The internet could be flooded, and there has to be intelligence in the backbone that would deal with that. That is a problem we and Cisco have to work on with governments to make sure that gets put into place.’

And he says progress is also being made on Microsoft’s internal processes for reducing the number of vulnerabilities in its products.

‘Where you develop software, you need to prove it will not go wrong, and we now have tools that we are using internally. We need to get those out to developers so their applications are secure as well,’ he says.

‘Security is going to remain our top priority for as long as I can see.’

On the future of the PC

Computer users are increasingly turning to new devices for accessing key applications and information. PDAs, mobile phones, even digital TV, are all changing attitudes towards the ubiquitous PC. But, not surprisingly, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates still sees the PC – albeit a very different one – as the future.

‘The PC will be able to recognise speech, you will be able to use ink with it, and it will have a camera capability so it can see what is going on,’ he says.

‘The tablet form factor will be something you just take with you to meetings. There is a lot to be done. The PC will be a phenomenal device compared with what it is now.’

Next week, Gates talks to Computing about Microsoft at 30, reducing IT complexity, the image of the industry, and what happens if it all goes wrong.