Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love something you can put beauty into it.
We can think of life as a self-replicating information-processing system whose information (software) determines both its behavior and the blueprints for its hardware.
As software engineers trained to turn ambiguity into absolutes and fuzzy requirements into ones and zeros, we had a 'eureka' moment when we realized that our training had broader, real-world applications.
Automation is no longer just a problem for those working in manufacturing. Physical labor was replaced by robots; mental labor is going to be replaced by AI and software.
When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft over 30 years ago, we had big dreams about software. We had dreams about the impact it could have.
Limit use of shareware and public domain software to systems without fixed disks. If you do use them on fixed disks, allocate separate subdirectories... Public domain or shareware software should never be placed in the root directory.
In addition to my job at American Express, I'm also chairman of the board of Symantec, one of the leading players in anti-virus and cyber-crime prevention software, so I know firsthand just how sophisticated many of these attacks can be.
For the average home-user, anti-virus software is a must.
We can't ever forget that the Internet now is just a staid utility. The exciting platforms are software applications that are very, very simple.
In the past, there was hardware, software, and platforms on top of which there were applications. Now they're getting conflated. That is all going to get disrupted by the move to the cloud.
Most efforts to approximate normal human behavior in software tend to be creepy or annoying.
Be careful about virtual relationships with artificially intelligent pieces of software.
Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.
Venture capitalists are like lemmings jumping on the software bandwagon.
We can provide beta software to our developers in advance of the general public. We can easily link up with external partners, customers, and suppliers.
Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.
The Internet browser is the most susceptible to viruses. The browser is naive about downloading and executing software. Google is trying to help by releasing the Chrome browser as open source.
I'm also the chairman of the board of Symantec, which is the world's largest cybersecurity - software cybersecurity company.
Shareware tends to combine the worst of commercial software with the worst of free software.
Compounding the cost, most mapping software is processor-intense.
