Screaming Penguin

SPIEGEL: Did you underestimate the security problems? A few years ago, the chief concerns of your industry were making computers more efficient and hooking up as many houses as possible. Now security is of chief concern. Even Microsoft seems to have first become aware of the danger after Sept. 11. Gates: The terrorist attacks in 2001 just showed people up close where a lack of security can lead. Problems with computer security have more to do with the unbelievable success of the computer itself. The more successful the PC became, the more the downsides also became clear, such as: how can I prevent someone from stealing my credit cards off the Internet? In some areas, the bad boys are also terribly clever -- and occasionally more crafty than we had expected.

Gates: The truth is: the fewer operating systems there are within a company, the better it is from a security point of view.