Gates praises merits of XML

Microsoft confirms major commitment to web services

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates toured the UK last week promoting the company's commitment to XML as the future of web services development.

The company's founder and chief software architect spoke at the annual .Net developer conference and at a Microsoft-sponsored NHS event, ahead of the launch of the Visual Studio .Net XML development tools on 13 February.

"XML is a fundamental change for all Microsoft products. I hope we're making it clear what a big bet we've made on it," he said.

"Visual Studio .Net will hide a lot of the complexity of XML. Instead of thinking about the systems, we want to think about the user. This idea of a common programming model has never been done before, but it's a very necessary step," he added.

Gates told an audience of NHS Trust chief executives that technologies such as XML will be important for linking healthcare systems. He predicted that products such as Microsoft's tablet PC - due for release next year - will be more suitable than PDAs.

In October, the NHS agreed a three-year software licensing deal with Microsoft which it hopes will save £50m.

Microsoft also gave delegates an insight into some of the innovations coming out of its annual $5bn research and development facilities, such as personal security processors which can be embedded into mobile phones.