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Gates Woos UW Students; Consider Working in the Software Industry, Microsoft Co-Founder Tells Them

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By STANLEY A. MILLER II

Madison Bill Gates tried to sell University of Wisconsin students on the idea of a career in the software industry Wednesday, pulling out some of Microsoft's latest high-tech toys to show how cool the work can be.

"This is the field changing the world unlike any other," said Gates, co-founder of Microsoft. "It's a fun field . . . a field that changes over time."

Gates made his pitch with a polished presentation that included demonstrations of a new photo management program called Max, unreleased cell phones running Microsoft software and the Xbox 360, a next-generation video game system that will go on sale next month.

"Obviously, I think software is the coolest field there is, and by the time I am done I hope you'll agree."

Gates' appearance was part of a three-day tour of college campuses around the country intended to get students interested in computer science and the software industry. The capacity crowd was made up undergraduate students, including computer science and engineering majors, who got to ask Gates questions for about 40 minutes after his lecture.

Questions ranged from how he built Microsoft as a business to why Microsoft hasn't joined the open source software movement, in which a company makes its proprietary source code public so developers can design software for it.

Golden age'

Gates' message to the students rang loud and clear: The software industry has a powerful impact on people's lives, and they can be a part of it.

"All of you are very lucky," he told a group of about 200 students. "You are the right age to enter this golden age" of the software industry.

Gates' presentation included a video clip of UW alumni extolling the virtues of their jobs at Microsoft and a video skit featuring Gates and Jon Heder in his role as the character Napoleon Dynamite, which culminated in an energetic dance routine similar to that ending the movie of the same name.

"We had a lot of fun making that," Gates told the laughing students after video.

Some students said what really got their attention was the technology Gates showed off, including a camera-based video recognition technology he said was "four to five years out."

The system connected a cell phone to a camera and a monitor, with Gates showing how information on a business card could be transmitted to the device through handwriting recognition.

"He has given me a lot to think about," Jamie Brown, a UW junior majoring in engineering, said after the event. "I was really impressed."

Brown, who said she is a fan of Microsoft, said she was undecided whether she wanted to pursue a career in software engineering or biomedical engineering.

"I still have time," she said. "I'm just exploring options."

Nick Leaf, a sophomore computer science major at UW, noted that although he is pursuing a career in software, he is "somewhat concerned" that jobs in the industry might be shipped overseas.

Showing off Xbox 360

Gates showed off the multimedia and video game features of the Xbox 360, playing songs, displaying digital pictures in a slide show format, and taking a few laps around a virtual racetrack in the new title "Project Gotham Racing."

"It's not just the graphics . . . it's also connecting over broadband for a far more social experience," Gates said as he raced a Porsche through a virtual version of Las Vegas.

Ambitious projects such as these are what a career in the software industry can be all about, Gates said.

"Another thing that makes this field interesting . . . is you are out on projects that are all your own," he said. "Getting the best people who want to do the best software is very important."

Gates visited schools last year, too, including MIT and Cornell, to spark students' interests in software careers.

Microsoft and UW spokesmen said UW-Madison made this year's tour list because of its computer science and engineering programs. It was Gates' first visit to the city of Madison.

Gates' visit to campus included meetings with faculty and a surprise "guest lecture" appearance in a computer science "Introduction to Programming" class, according to a statement from UW.

"The best computer scientists are here in the U.S., and that is because of schools like Wisconsin and Michigan," Gates said in a meeting with reporters after his talk. "The people here are not going to have any trouble getting a high-paying . . . high-impact job."

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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