Inside Out
By Bill Gates
To commemorate Microsoft's 25th anniversary, the company published Inside Out, a book written by and for employees which highlights the products, people and culture that transformed Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's vision for personal computing into reality. Each chapter of the book features an introductory essay by Bill Gates, reflecting on the company's history and looking ahead to future opportunities. The essays are reproduced below.
Part 1:Introduction
Part 2:Think it, Build it, Bit by Bit
Part 3:From Inspiration to Market
Part 4:What it Takes
Part 5:We're All Swimming in the Same Pool
Part 6:Where to Next?
Introduction
It amazes me how far we've come.
The story of Microsoft really began in December 1974, when my friend Paul Allen and I saw an article in Popular Electronics describing a new "personal computer" called the MITS Altair 8800. The Altair was very different from the mainframe computers that we were used to back then. It was a build-it-yourself kit for hobbyists--what arrived in the mail wasn't a fully assembled computer, just some bags of parts and a set of photocopied instructions. After a few days (or weeks) of soldering, you ended up with a computer roughly the size of a bread box, with rows of switches and blinking lights.
It wasn't much to look at, and it was pretty much impossible to make it do anything useful, but right away we thought the Altair was the start of a revolution that would change the world. The "brain" of the Altair--the inexpensive Intel 8080 microprocessor--made possible a truly human-scale computer that could fit on a desk. In those days, when computers usually lived in air-conditioned glass rooms surrounded by trained technicians, that was an amazing achievement.
To transform that achievement into a breakthrough, the Altair needed software that could make it perform useful computing tasks. That set Paul and me on the path to forming our own software company.
We knew that microprocessors would become more powerful and less expensive, so the cost of computers would come down. We figured that would bring them within reach of far more people, from entrepreneurs to students to home users. And we concluded that this would create a huge demand for software. We formed a little partnership called Micro-Soft so we could be a part of this transformation.
Over the years, the PC has grown from a hobbyist's toy into an indispensable tool that continues to change the world. It's revolutionized how we deal with information, how we communicate, and how we work, learn, and play. And the little company Paul and I dreamed up sitting around my college dorm room is now the world's biggest software company, employing almost 40,000 people in more than 50 countries. From our roots in programming languages and operating systems, we've ventured into just about every kind of software you can imagine, from industrial-strength servers to games.
We started with a vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home." This book tells the story of how we turned that vision--which many critics saw as nothing but a fantasy--into reality. Hundreds of current and former Microsoft employees were interviewed about our first 25 years--the successes and failures, the personal and professional challenges, and their dreams for the future.
Those stories--which could fill ten books--chronicle our growth from scrappy start-up to industry leader. They tell of the risks we've taken, the intense competition we've weathered, and the new trails we've blazed. They explain the complex process that takes us from good ideas to great products. They reveal what we're thinking about how technology can improve society and change the world. And they offer insight into the principles and values that make our company tick.
We don't often look back at what we've accomplished, but now seems like a good time to do so. Not only is nostalgia fun, but it's important to be reminded from time to time that anything is possible. In 25 years, we've accomplished so many things that people said were impossible, and we've shattered every myth about what the PC can't do. As ambitious as we were at the outset, we had no idea that we'd become such a large and influential company, or that we'd lead an industry that's come to play such an important role in the global economy.
Looking back at what we've achieved in 25 years, I feel certain that we'll have even more impressive things to remember in our 50th year. Every day, we're finding new ways for technology to enhance and enrich people's lives. We're really just getting started.
Think it, Build it, Bit by Bit
What does it take to create revolutionary software? Does it mean being first to come up with a new idea, or being first to turn that idea into a product? Does it mean carrying out pioneering research, or making incremental improvements to what's already there until you get it right? Does it mean becoming a giant, or standing on the shoulders of giants? Usually, the answer is a bit of each. Most software blends innovation, inspiration, and incremental improvement in equal measure.
Whatever the blend, great ideas alone don't guarantee success--you have to create an environment where those ideas can be transformed into products and services that are easy to use, a great value, and widely available. You also have to make big, do-or-die bets on the future, committing to technologies and strategies that may not pay off for years. It's easy to spend so much time thinking about today's markets and competitors that you're not ready for those you'll encounter tomorrow. That's why I schedule "think weeks" several times a year--so I can spend time reading up on trends that are just beyond the horizon.
Second-guessing the future isn't easy. Back in 1975, everyone thought the personal computer industry would look very much like the entire computer industry did at the time--you'd buy your software from the company that built your computer. Few people even thought there would be a distinct "software industry." Paul and I disagreed. We believed that computing power would be cheap, that there would be computers everywhere made by lots of different companies, and that software would be needed to take advantage of these trends. So we decided to write and supply software for personal computers without getting involved in making or selling the hardware itself.
Our first product was Microsoft BASIC. The BASIC language was already used on larger computers, but we knew it would also be ideal for the PC--it was simple and easy to learn, yet powerful enough to create complex programs that made the computer do useful things. Once we created a version of BASIC that fit into the limited memory of early PCs, we started extending it--adding new commands to take advantage of the richness of the machine. Today, Visual Basic is the most widely used programming language in the world, and it's just amazing what people have been able to do with it. Over the years, BASIC in all its forms has been the key to much of our success.
Our belief in the potential of the PC also led us to a different licensing approach. Instead of licensing our software to a single hardware vendor at a high price, we licensed software at extremely low prices to all computer makers because we were betting on volume. At the time, most other companies charged high prices, assuming that they would sell very few copies of their products. In addition, when we developed our MS-DOS PC operating system, we worked closely with all the PC makers to ensure that every feature they wanted was incorporated as quickly as possible. We didn't want to lose a single customer.
Developer support for MS-DOS was crucial to bringing the PC into the mainstream. Early on, young PC companies like Compaq understood the need to make computers that were compatible with each other and gave users a familiar and consistent experience. Because MS-DOS helped hide the differences between computers, it rapidly became the most popular operating system for PCs. Software developers who were building applications to run on it knew that their products would run on millions of computers. It started a positive feedback loop: as more and more applications became available for the PC, more and more users had a reason to buy one--and then even more software developers wanted to write applications for PCs. That's what made the PC such a runaway success.
As the PC became powerful enough to handle rich graphics, we saw another opportunity to move computing forward: the graphical user interface. The GUI had been around since the mid-seventies, and some companies had already started building GUI-based computers, but we saw that our experience in building platforms and nurturing standards would be useful in popularizing the GUI--so we bet the company on Windows. At first, people thought we were crazy--after all, why would anyone switch to Windows when everyone had just gotten used to MS-DOS?
But after several years of hard work to improve Windows, we started seeing a repeat of what happened with MS-DOS. Windows made the PC easier to use, which led more people to use it. That, combined with Visual Basic, which made it easy to write software for Windows, encouraged developers to create lots of Windows-based applications. And just as we evolved BASIC over the years, we made each new version of Windows better and better--we greatly improved its performance and multitasking support, and we continuously added new elements to the GUI. This endless evolution--of ideas building on ideas--is what has always set Microsoft apart.
With Microsoft Office, we changed the way people think about business computing by looking at productivity as a whole and developing tools that bring together the many different tasks you do every day. While most software companies were still focusing on stand-alone applications, we realized that most people wanted to be able to share text, data, and graphics across applications. They also wanted those applications to work together seamlessly and have a common look and feel. Office created a whole new product category that met those needs.
At other times, we've bet on totally new concepts. Obviously, one of our biggest bets has been on the Internet. But there have been many others. With Windows NT, we made a huge long-term bet that PCs would become powerful enough to be the backbone of enterprise computing. With our ClearType font technology, we bet that most people would one day read eBooks. And with Microsoft Bob, we bet on a social interface that "humanized" the PC. It was a little ahead of its time, and PCs weren't yet powerful enough to handle what we wanted Bob to do, so the product was a commercial failure. But we learned a huge amount from the experience, and some of the ideas we pioneered with Bob are already appearing in other products.
We're lucky enough to live in an age where the potential of computer technology to change our lives still appears limitless. The combined power of the PC, the Internet, and wireless and broadband technologies is revolutionizing the way we work, learn, and play. We're betting on this revolution with Microsoft .NET, which we hope will do for the next generation of computing what MS-DOS and Windows did for the PC--change our lives through software that's inexpensive, widely available, and easy to use.
Although I sometimes get a little apprehensive when we take big risks like this, I wouldn't do it any other way. I've always enjoyed building new things and coming up with creative solutions to hard problems, so I look forward to the challenge of creating the software that will shape computing in the next 25 years. I'm confident we'll succeed--we've got the people and the skills to make it happen, and we're just as passionate about technology as we were back in 1975.
From Inspiration to Market
In the early days of Microsoft, it often seemed like I was responsible for almost everything. I was managing the payroll, calculating the taxes, drafting the contracts, and figuring out how to sell our products. Everybody else in our tiny company was a programmer, and I did a lot of that, too. In fact, we all wrote an immense amount of code. It was our life--we'd wake up, write code, maybe catch a movie, grab some pizza, write more code, and then fall asleep in our chairs.
We were hard-core about writing code and selling software, and we didn't have much time to do anything else. This worked just fine for us, because our customers were hard-core computer enthusiasts who weren't bothered by a small feature set, a limited manual, or an advanced user interface. That was the way PC software was back then. Some companies shipped their software in plastic bags, with a one-page photocopied manual and a phone number that you could dial for "technical support." At Microsoft, when a customer called us to order some software, whoever answered the phone was the "shipping department." They'd run to the back of the office, copy a disk, put it in the mail, and then go back to their desk and write more code.
As our customers became more sophisticated, we became very focused about making quality software, which is more than just quality code. Creating software has become an incredibly complex process. I'll always view good software as a work of art, but in many ways creating our products is a science, from beginning to end. To make today's software really sing, you need people with a wide range of specialized skills. Of course, you still need good programmers, but you also need just as many people to test and support the software that the programmers create. You need product planners and architects, documentation writers, usability specialists, and smart managers who help them all work well together. You need technicians to answer customers' questions, and you need consultants who help customers be more successful with your products. And none of these areas is a luxury that only larger companies provide. Every software company must address each of these areas.
As our company grew, we had to learn these lessons for ourselves. In the beginning, I had some reservations about hiring people who couldn't write code--we were a software company made up of really great programmers, and I thought we should stay focused on that. I also thought we didn't really have to manage our programmers in a traditional way because the quality of their work was in the source code--you managed them by reviewing the code. But I came to realize that we needed smart non-technical guys like Steve Ballmer to work with our developers to turn our software into successful products. In fact, bringing Steve to Microsoft was one of the best decisions I ever made.
These days, we hire all kinds of smart people, most of whom don't write code. They talk with customers, learn what the marketplace wants today and will want tomorrow, and make sure that those needs are communicated to developers. They localize our software into dozens of languages. They design user interfaces that make it easy for our customers to be productive with our software. They work closely with businesses to make sure our software does what they need it to do. They help corporate IT managers deploy massive computer networks, and they help grandparents send their first e-mail to their grandchildren. And they explore cutting-edge technologies that will enable our company to be a future leader.
When we started Microsoft, we always thought we'd remain a relatively small company. Even though we had dreams of putting "a computer on every desk and in every home," we didn't fully appreciate how much software people would really need. When I drive onto our campus or go to a company meeting, sometimes I'm just amazed at how our company has evolved over the years.
But although we've grown from a room full of programmers to a 38,000-strong corporation, the typical "Microsoftie" isn't much different from how we were back in 1975. They still work hard, order pizza, drink Cokes, and play practical jokes on each other. Whether they're writing code or not, everyone here is still passionate about technology and focused on building great products and services for our customers.
The enthusiasm and focus I see all around our company is what keeps me coming into work every day.
What it Takes
From the very beginning--and much to our surprise--Microsoft was pretty successful. In large part, that was because we lived and breathed software, stopping only to eat and catch a few hours of sleep here and there. We were totally hard-core about succeeding right out of the gate. But we also made what turned out to be some good business decisions, like focusing our early efforts on the Intel 8080 chip and licensing MS-DOS to IBM--although in those early days, they looked like anything but sure bets.
Sometimes, we bit off more than we could chew, promising more to our customers than anyone could realistically deliver, but we'd make up for it by staying up even later, working even harder, and challenging ourselves to beat every impossible deadline. And sometimes we came pretty close--when Intel first licensed software from us, they didn't believe us when we said we could get it written in 5 or 6 days. They thought it would take several months. As it turned out, it took us about 10 days to do it--and that was because it took us 5 days to set up their computers.
It was always a thrill for us to surprise our customers like that. We've thrived on doing things people thought were impossible. Throughout our history, we've exploded myth after myth about personal computers. In the beginning, few people thought the PC would become a mainstream success, but we got a kick out of making that happen. People thought you couldn't make high-quality software for the PC, back it up with real technical support, and make it available to millions of people at low cost. But we did. Today, some people think that PC technology isn't powerful or robust enough to run high-end servers or handle mission-critical business processes. We're driven to prove them wrong.
In the early days, we were just a bunch of programmers in a small company with some big ideas, and our offices were more like a college campus than a typical firm. We kept things informal and avoided hierarchy where it didn't make sense--anyone could walk into my office if they had a question or concern, an idea for a new product, or thoughts about what our competitors were doing. We didn't care how programmers dressed or how well they could run a meeting. All we cared about was making great software. We felt that our excellence was in our products--everything else was secondary.
We knew that as our company grew, we'd need to preserve much of the freedom we had when we were small. With nearly 40,000 employees, you obviously can't be as informal as when you have 10, and it's physically impossible for me to meet with every single person on campus. But we've hung on to the same spirit we had back then, and I think that's a key to our success.
We still behave like a small company in countless ways. We do everything we can to stay lean, using our resources wisely and avoiding wasteful, unnecessary expenses like first-class airline seats and expensive hotels. And we still have an open-door policy where people can talk candidly to their managers about what's happening on their team, in the company, or in the industry.
But the most important thing we haven't changed is this: we hire smart people. There's no substitute for that, and it's not as easy as it sounds--some people perform great when you interview them but turn out to be much less impressive when you work with them day to day. Others totally flunk the interviews, but you just know they're going to be big contributors. Often, it all comes down to your gut feeling.
We really dedicate ourselves to finding the right people. We ask our employees to be involved in interviews throughout the year--not just for openings on their team, but for positions anywhere in the company. I didn't realize that this was unusual until we hired Mike Maples from IBM. We asked a few of the more senior people from several teams to interview him--people who would be working for him. That seemed very odd to him, but to us it was just normal practice. A hire is so important you have to be sure they have what it takes, and that they'll work well in our environment.
Once you have the best of the best, I think it's really important to put trust in them. From the beginning, I've relied on others to apply their thinking and expertise to support my own, and in many cases they've filled in where I've felt my own knowledge has been lacking. We put people in small teams, empower them to shape the direction of our products, and offer them the technology and resources they need to get the job done. We give them the opportunity to succeed but also the latitude to fail--as long as we learn something from their mistakes. And, of course, we give them the opportunity to share in the success they help create.
But all the smart people in the world still won't do any good if they're in a company that's bureaucratic, impersonal, and resistant to change. Companies fail for lots of reasons--sometimes they're poorly managed, sometimes they simply don't make the products customers want. But I think the biggest company-killer of all, especially in fast-moving industries like ours, is the reluctance to adapt to change. Change is unavoidable--technology will always evolve, markets will always change, and people will always want more from products.
The history of business is littered with companies that got too set in their ways and were so comfortable with success that they didn't realize the world was going to change, with or without them. So above all else, I've valued Microsoft's ability to turn on a dime--to grasp new industry directions and reinvent itself to stay successful as technology evolves. The industry today still reminds me of how it was in Microsoft's early years. By the early 1980s, the personal computer had seized the public consciousness and technology was advancing at an incredible rate. At times, it seemed as if significant new companies were appearing almost every day. Plenty of great products--and some crazy ones--emerged during that time. But many of the companies founded during that era--including a few one-time industry leaders--no longer exist.
Today, the Internet is inspiring the same fervor. Competition is more intense than it's ever been. And since we're a much larger company than we used to be, the stakes are much higher. If we make the right decisions, the positive impact on our world, not to mention ourselves, will be tremendous. But if we make the wrong decisions, everything we've built over the last 25 years could be history.
I believe we have what it takes to succeed. We've always stayed on our toes, watching out for the new trend or competitor that could put us out of business, and we've always loved to solve tough problems and overcome big challenges. So I'm not only confident that we'll succeed in the coming years, but I'm excited about the smart thinking and hard work we'll have to do to make it happen.
We're All Swimming in the Same Pool
It's always been hard to predict how rapidly or dramatically a new technology will reshape the world. Johannes Gutenberg invented an economical way to produce movable type in the 15th century, but more than a hundred years passed before his invention had a major impact on the way information was transmitted--and hundreds more went by before print really changed the world. Yet, less than 50 years after the Wright brothers achieved powered human flight in 1903, we saw air travel transform the way we think about time and distance.
The past century has been filled with inventions that have revolutionized how we live, learn, and work--everything from the vacuum tube and transistor to the VCR and PC. And with each new technology, the economic, political and social effects are felt faster than ever before. In fact, change is now so rapid and far-reaching that I often wonder how a person from the mid-1800s would make sense of today's world.
When we started Microsoft, the idea that you would communicate, do business, and access a wealth of knowledge through a network of computers was far-fetched. Yet the PC and the Internet have done all that, and much more. They've transformed our lives in record time--and it's not over yet. In the coming years, a combination of amazing software, faster processors, the Internet and wireless technology will bring the power of the PC to just about any device you can imagine--and some that you can't. Vast amounts of information, rich communication and powerful software will be easy to access wherever you are, and advanced new user interfaces will allow you to interact with that technology in more natural ways, such as through speech or even gestures.
These developments will change and improve our lives in countless ways. They will enable equal access to information and instantaneous communication with anyone in the world. They will open up vast markets and opportunities to businesses of any size. They will transcend national borders, making possible a frictionless global economy. They will allow workers to be even more efficient and productive, and will have the potential to make jobs more stimulating and fulfilling. They will give developing nations the ability to leapfrog the industrial era and move straight into the information age. They will help people and businesses in countries with large, dispersed populations to stay in touch, and help the smallest nations participate as equals in the global economy.
We've already seen how the PC can make a positive impact on people's lives through education. When I was in high school, computers weren't much of a learning tool for anyone except my friends and me--and we were simply addicted to them. But all you could do back then was write programs. Today, powerful hardware and software open the doors to a whole world of knowledge, and give people the power to use computers creatively. A few years ago, I visited several schools throughout the United States where we were funding technology programs, and while I was amazed at what some of the kids were doing with a lab filled with PCs, I realized that we would really start to see the potential for computers in education once every child had a computer to explore on his or her own, at school or at home.
Satirist Ambrose Bierce described the future as "that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true, and our happiness is assured." I hope that turns out to be true, but mostly I take a more realistic view of the future because no fundamental change comes without its own set of problems. As more and more people store personal information on the Internet, how will we ensure that information is kept secure? As our economy becomes more dependent on bits than on atoms, how will we protect these resources from being damaged or devalued by hackers? As the barriers to information come down, how will we protect our children from negative and predatory influences? And as the Internet dissolves national borders, how will we help indigenous cultures coexist with an increasingly homogenous global culture?
I want my children to grow up in a world where technology is a profoundly empowering tool. I want technology to enrich their learning and improve their quality of life. I'm totally committed to making this happen, both through Microsoft and through my own giving efforts, and in many ways it's more challenging than the hardest software problem. You can't just throw technology, or even money, at problems and make them go away--you have to think hard about how you can have the greatest and most beneficial effect, and then take a long-term approach to making substantial, tangible change.
It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day challenges of our jobs, but it's important to occasionally step back and consider how our technology is being put to good use in the world at large. I always feel inspired when I hear about projects we're involved in around the world that have made a positive difference. I think it's great that we're applying the same dedication and focus that we put into our software toward making a positive difference--as an industry, as a company, and as individuals.
Where to Next?
More than half a century has passed since John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first digital computer. We've seen computers evolve from giant, air-conditioned beasts with their own staff of caretakers, to breadbox-sized models that fit on a desk, to handheld devices with more computing power than top-of-the-line PCs had less than 10 years ago. And we've only seen a hint of their potential.
Back in 1975, Paul and I dreamed that computers would be ubiquitous and indispensable. We imagined that handheld computers would take notes and handle all our personal errands, that massive computer networks would put all the world's knowledge at our fingertips, and that we would be able to interact with our computers just as easily as we could with each other.
At the time these were only dreams, but many have already come true, and we're on the verge of even greater breakthroughs. Every year, computers are becoming smaller, faster, cheaper, and more versatile. They can recognize handwriting and voice commands, organize themselves into networks, and send information around the world in an instant. The power of the PC can now be embedded into all kinds of devices, from refrigerators to gas pumps to credit cards.
Smart homes embedded with PC intelligence will keep our families secure and eliminate many of the chores that get in the way of daily life. Universal connectivity and eBooks will give kids instant access to the knowledge I had to plow through stacks of encyclopedias to find. Powerful mobile devices will free us from the desktop and allow us to compute wherever and whenever we want to. And as microchips get even smaller and more powerful, we'll have computing power all around us--perhaps even woven into our clothing. And behind all this technology will be great software that helps people be more creative, stay in touch with each other, and live more fulfilling lives.
Personally, I'd like to have a tablet-sized PC with a high-speed wireless connection to the Internet--a device that's large enough to display lots of useful information, yet small and light enough for me to carry around. For me, that would really eliminate a lot of the barriers to working with memos, documents, pictures, music and movies in digital form.
I was attracted to computers because of the rich programming you could do, and the vast amount of control you could have over the machine if you wanted to put in the effort. But all most people want is for computers to do work for them. Today, we're close to having the best of both worlds. I'm looking forward to software that's smart enough to manage my information and simplify my life, yet flexible enough that I can be really creative in the ways I use it. When I search online for information on a particular subject, such as biotechnology, my software should be smart enough to weed out what it knows I've already seen. And when I want to schedule an appointment with my doctor, my software should show me only the available times on days when I plan to be in town.
Breakthroughs in wireless technology will also create incredible opportunities. At Microsoft, we're moving to a wireless network that will allow me to take my PC or other smart devices from my office into my conference room or into other buildings without losing connectivity. The possibilities at home are also incredible. I'll be able to take video of my kids outside, and simultaneously have the digital stream saved on my PC and sent to my dad.
We're entering an amazing new era of computing that will be more exciting than anything we've seen before. We're assuming that high-speed Internet access will become as commonplace in the home as electrical power is today, and that ubiquitous wireless access will soon follow. We're assuming that microprocessors will continue to become smaller, cheaper and more powerful. We're assuming that the PC will be complemented by a wider range of devices and everyday appliances with PC-like intelligence, from pocket and tablet-sized PCs to smart cars, refrigerators, and even entire smart homes.
We're betting on these trends with a strategy we call Microsoft .NET--a new platform, user experience, and set of advanced software services that will make all these devices work together and connect seamlessly. So you'll be able to work with the information you need no matter where you are or what device you're using.
To make this happen, I took a new job as Microsoft's Chief Software Architect early in 2000. Now I spend most of my time doing what I think I'm best at--thinking about where technology is going, and figuring out how our software and services can turn those exciting developments into useful, indispensable tools for everyone. There's plenty of work to do: How can software help your devices communicate with each other, and configure and manage themselves? How can it help them see, listen and understand what you need? How can it help them give you exactly the information you want in an appropriate form? How can it protect your valuable data from theft or eavesdropping?
The technologies we're using to build Microsoft .NET are based on years of work that our researchers have put into anticipating future software needs. When we started Microsoft, I dreamed of creating our own research lab to explore new fields of computing, new user interfaces, advanced programming techniques, and even basic science that could take computing forward. I had always admired the work of research laboratories like General Electric's "House of Magic," the world's first great industrial research lab; Bell Laboratories; and Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), which originated many of the technologies that have transformed our lives.
We started Microsoft Research in 1991, and since then it's generated countless new technologies that have made our products more powerful and easier to use. Microsoft Research built code optimization and testing tools that have helped us make reliable, high-quality software. They provided the natural-language processing tools that put rich grammar-checking capabilities into Word. They developed ClearType, which triples the resolution of today's LCD screens, dramatically improving the on-screen reading experience and enabling the development of inexpensive, easy-to-read eBooks. They're working on natural interface technology that helps computers understand your voice, your gestures, and even the look on your face. And today, they're helping us develop and implement a lot of the technology that will make Microsoft .NET happen.
Thinking about the future is a full-time job at Microsoft Research, but the ideas that drive us forward come from all over the company. Some of these ideas will become the software we'll use tomorrow, while others might make it into software our grandchildren will use. When I think back to when Paul and I were just kids starting out, I'm amazed by the progress we've made. But then I look ahead to the world of my own children, and I realize that the changes yet to come will be even more exciting.