The year was 1995. It was 20 years after Microsoft was founded. The PC era had arrived and there was a new revolution coming.

But, you know, I think about this, and what about this internet thing? Do you know anything about that?

Sure. What the hell is that exactly?

This is Bill Gates on The Late Show with David Letterman, helping the talk show host wrap his head around what was coming next.

It's become a place where people are publishing information.

So everybody can have their own homepage. Companies are there.

The latest information.

It's wild what's going on.

You can send electronic mail to people.

It is the big new thing. Gates was on the show to promote his book that had just been released, The Road

Ahead. And while it might not have been obvious from his comments, the Microsoft co-founder

himself had taken a while to warm up to the idea of the internet, at least in the form that

it was unfolding at the time.

I'm Geekwire co-founder Todd Bishop.

On this special episode of the Geekwire podcast, as part of our series on Microsoft's 50th

anniversary, we're going to revisit Bill Gates's

classic book with the benefit of three decades of hindsight and find some surprising lessons

for today with insights from one of his co-authors. That's coming up after this. Microsoft at 50 is an independent geekwire editorial project made possible with support from Accenture.

Hello, John Gingrich here, Senior Managing Director and Global Lead of our Microsoft account at Accenture.

Accenture proudly recognizes Microsoft's 50th

anniversary, and we're honored to mark our 35-year relationship

as a trusted partner and change driver, delivering

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