ETRE Conference Rome (2001): Part 3

Special coverage of the European Technology Roundtable and Exhibition in Rome continues with a discussion of the proposed merger between Compaq and HP. [Episode #1916, First broadcast: 1/1/2002] Bill Gates sees the new venture with optimism and Michael Dell gives his critical opinion of this new company that could be bigger than IBM. Kevin Fong from the Mayfield Fund and DASAR Chairman/CEO Alex Vieux also comment on how two very culturally different companies could mold into one. And, are we entering the “post PC” era with cell phones and PDAs as our main gateways to the World Wide Web? Red Herring’s Tony Perkins says the “always on” generation will require convenient hand-held mobile devices for Internet access. But, Michael Dell says PCs will never be obsolete as applications continue to grow to fit the size of a computer. Marimba Chairwoman Kim Polesi explains how these new mobile appliances mean new business models for the high-tech industry and 3Com Chairman Eric Benhamou talks about how the future of the web in your hand will have to wait until the economy recovers. Finally, San Jose Mercury News writer Joel Dreyfuss and Symantec CEO John Thompson discuss the security problems in a wireless world that would inhibit mobile devices. http://archive.org/details/European2002