Thousands of Beijing people flocked to a city auditorium yesterday to catch sight of their idol, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who said China had a key role to play in the future of the world software industry.
Mr Gates was making his first public appearance during a two-day visit, his fifth to China, at the Beijing International Convention Centre, to attend the company's professional developers' conference.
His fans, not all with invitations, came hoping to see a man they regard as the world's computer king. Chinese people, especially the young and well-educated, have warmly embraced the computer. Mr Gates did not disappoint them.
He said: 'I am very optimistic for the future of the software business everywhere in the world and China will play a significant role in that, because you have great human resources and the universities focus more on computer technology.
'As the Internet gets established here, the worldwide shortage of computer skills will make people come to China to look for people.' Mr Gates was speaking at a crowded news conference where reporters competed with each other to ask questions.
He said: 'India got off to a fast start and China is at a very early stage. This is a key reason why we are reaching out to developers and working with the universities, getting a lot of great software people here in China.' The mainland is a small, but rapidly growing, computer market. Personal computer sales this year in China will reach 3.2 million, up from 2.1 million last year, making it the largest market in Asia after Japan.
About 60 per cent of owners use a Chinese-language version of Microsoft's Windows software.
