About Bill Gates' Think Week

If you've not heard about Bill Gates' Think Week, you should read today's WSJ article that gives you an insight into his 'a seven-day stretch of seclusion he uses to ponder the future of technology and then propagate those thoughts across the Microsoft empire.'.

ZDNet published an interview with Gates a year ago, on what he described as

"probably the funnest part of my job, seeing some of the research work coming out of universities, getting very up-to-date on the research inside Microsoft, and then I'll pick some areas of things I need to understand, like where are microprocessors going."

The reading matter is a mix of stuff he's spotted but hasn't had time to read during the rest of the year, and papers submitted by Microsoft employees that he's marked for attention. Last year, papers he read (submitted by evangelising employees) on RSS and blogging lead to his awareness and then speech that caught the attention of the media. A few months later, out comes MSN Spaces...

What is very cool, is that the papers are made available on an intranet for any employee after the Think Week. I've gone there in the past and picked up stuff that is of interest (most of it)...mind-blowing stuff.

Anyhow, read up on Bill's views of a tech future after last year's Think Week...