GigaOM

Bill Gates spoke at Stanford today, gathering a crowd because a) he’s Bill Gates, and b) he’s about to retire. Microsoft had just announced it would be giving students developer and designer software for free. Gates said that besides his philanthropic commitments, he’ll continue to stay involved in Microsoft’s work on natural user interface (e.g. Wii, iPhone, and Microsoft Surface-like devices) and the structure of knowledge, “and really take on the big frontiers of software.” Some quotes that caught my ear:

* “How many universities should have to give lectures on subjects like physics? The answer is: very few.”
* “A form factor that I’m a big believer in, that I’m excited to keep investing in so we can bring it to the mainstream, is the tablet device.”
* “Today there’s a few million people who are getting their TV through Internet feeds. It’s just a spectrum of content. Many of the things that will be available in TV in terms of watching, talking with your friends…things we see more today in the video game world.”
* “Today we’re still very device-centric — as we get this unlimited power in the cloud, the ability to move that data automatically will become commonplace.”
* “I don’t see any risk in the world at large that someone will restrict free content flow on the Internet.”