It’s just a short duration before he will leave full-time duties at Microsoft, and Bill Gates is reflecting on a longtime passion: the human-type interfaces he believes will usher computing well beyond the keyboard and mouse — everything from Tablet PCs with handwriting recognition to Surface tabletop computers that recognize objects and human touch.

“None of these techniques — vision, ink, speech, touch — are mainstream,” he says

Microsoft is making a large bet on what Gates calls these “natural user interfaces.” It’s one of the areas in which Gates will remain involved post-retirement. After 33 years, Gates, 52, is stepping down from full-time work at Microsoft. After Friday, he will remain chairman and a part-time employee as he shifts his main focus to philanthropy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates’ departure completes a long-planned transition. He gave up the CEO post to Steve Ballmer in 2000; three years ago, the two men first

discussed Gates leaving his current gig. “There’s no reluctance here,” Gates says during one of his last in-person interviews before switching gears. “This is something that I’ve driven.”

Gates won’t be totally removed, of course. He’ll work on natural interfaces and other projects, though he says, “I wouldn’t try and propose that my ongoing role is key to that stuff. … Steve and Ray (chief software architect Ozzie) will figure out how to use me effectively.”

The large Surface tabletop computer in the office Gates soon will relinquish to Ballmer offers one clue about where he thinks computing is going: The interactive, 30-inch touch-responsive tables can be used to order meals or display maps. They’re now in use at AT&T phone stores and at Harrah’s Rio hotel in Las Vegas.

Ballmer sees surface computing as a multibillion-dollar category. Indeed, such newfangled alternatives to the mouse and keyboard could have a…

Orginal post by Mike

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