Bangalore: Microsoft with its technology and Wipro through its services could form a "powerful combination" to take on major competitors like IBM, Microsoft chief, Bill Gates said on November 13.

Expressing optimism about the relationship between Wipro and Microsoft, Gates said at the Wipro campus, "Future is dependent upon our relationship together, both as a partner and a customer of Wipro and together we have a bright future."

Describing Microsoft as a "very large and satisfied customer of Wipro", the chairman of Microsoft said that the company looked forward to building the mutual relationship into a stronger one.

Wipro has shown that projects can be executed not only in "a cost-effective but also timely manner", Gates said. And this is the reason why Microsoft is investing in Wipro's localised products and also teachers' training programmes, he said.

"We want to provide them (Wipro) with all opportunities to do better," Gates said.

India has a very central role to play in the future economy and has all the capability to become the "software superpower" with its investments in high quality education, which should continue, he said.

Gates said that Microsoft is working on a new database, which will be "universal stores for all software applications".

Besides, the company has also introduced a "Tablet PC", which is a milestone in PC computing, he said.

Software is a key industry today with over a billion PCs in use over the world. It will be another five years before we have another billion PCs, Gates said.

Terming this decade as a "digital one", Gates said by 2009 digital processes will "become common sense".

Hardware revolution is continuing in full speed and "we need that badly', he said, adding that the speed in fibre networks will also double in the next few years.

Microsoft's R&D is working on bringing out "trustworthy computing solutions. We want to surprise our customers with reliability by bringing out solutions which are as reliable as the water or electricity systems", he said.

The company is working on novel applications to bridge the divide between the structured world and the desktop world, Gates added.

PTI