Microsoft at 50: Read Bill Gates’ email from 1995 that predicted the rise of Internet

To: Executive Staff and Direct Reports From: Bill Gates Date: May 26, 1995 The Internet Tidal Wave Our vision for the last 20 years can be summarized in a succinct way: We saw that exponential improvements in computer capabilities would make great software quite valuable. Our response was to build an organization to deliver the best software products. In the next 20 years, the improvement in computer power will be outpaced by the exponential improvements in communications networks. The combination of these elements will have a fundamental impact on work, learning, and play. Great software products will be crucial to delivering the benefits of these advances. Both the variety and volume of software will increase. Most users of communications have not yet seen the price of communications come down significantly. Cable and phone networks are still depreciating networks built with old technology. Universal service monopolies and other governmental involvement around the world have kept communications costs high. Private networks and the Internet, which are built using state