Posted on: Saturday, October 2, 2004
Microsoft founder says we must adapt to global economy
Associated Press
BERKELEY, Calif. — Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates weighed in on outsourcing during a speech at the University of California-Berkeley yesterday — a topic of major concern to the audience packed with engineering students whose futures now seem as uncertain as Silicon Valley's economy. Nick Lammers • Associated Press "I think it is a good thing that more and more countries are getting to participate in the capitalist economy. It's not like we have one winner and one loser in this system. I mean, is it bad that China and India were rich?" he said. "It's a little scary to me to think of a future where these countries would be left behind."
But America must continue to invest in its universities if it hopes to adapt to the new global economy, Gates warned. "China and India are these big agents of change in the years ahead and as we embrace that we'll be able to move ahead."
Asked what the future may hold for the area's technology industry now that engineers here must compete against lower-paid tech workers in China, India and other countries, Gates seemed sanguine.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates tells engineering students at the University of CaliforniaiBerkeley that America should continue to invest in its universities to keep up with the new global economy.
