Gates waxed on about technology as well as global issues, touching on topics ranging from improving the plight of healthcare worldwide to the upcoming Windows Vista operating system. Gates was preceded by panels discussing innovation and energy issues, featuring dignitaries such as McNealy and Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO of NetFlix. TV interviewer Charlie Rose was the host for the event.

Gates cited the United States' evolving role in the world. As other countries mature and become players in the world economy, the United States will have to accept a less lopsided role in global affairs, but Americans still are looking at a better future, Gates said.

Given that technical education is catching on more in other countries and lagging here, other countries will begin to contribute more to the technological pie, according to Gates. The United States must get used to the fact that its share of everything and its ability to make unilateral decisions will no longer be so disproportionate to its status of having only 5 percent of the world's population. But this is a good thing, he said.

"The U.S. has been sort of spoiled because it's been a leader for so long," and that may require an adjustment, Gates said.

The United States benefits from advantages such as its universities but also has problems such as high costs, Gates said.