Forget access devices, dumb terminals and the primacy of networks. In the future, the personal computer will retain its centre-stage position and, combined with Internet access, will bring empowerment to consumers and business users, according to Microsoft president Mr Steve Ballmer.

"The PC will not go away. The PC will be even more important and more popular than it is today," said Mr Ballmer, who was paying his first visit to Ireland and Microsoft's operations here. "What we'll see is a blend of the best of the PC and the best of the Internet. The PC still keeps users in control of the computing experience," he said.

Speaking in Dublin to a group of 200 managers of large Irish companies yesterday, Mr Ballmer came to preach the virtues of Microsoft's soon-to-be-released (and long-awaited) operating system for businesses, Windows 2000, scheduled for February release. An operating system controls the basic functions of a computer.

Mr Ballmer, who joined Microsoft in 1980 and replaced Mr Bill Gates as president of the company in July 1998, also explained his vision of the future of business computing and the Internet, and indicated where he believed Microsoft slotted into the picture.

Mr Ballmer conceded Microsoft had not achieved its previous mission statement of seeing a PC on every desk and in every home. Nonetheless, there were now 500 million PCs worldwide, and 120 million would be sold this year alone. The company's new mission statement, revised this year for the first time, calls for empowerment through the use of technology. Within that context, Mr Ballmer spoke of "software that will allow the world to be connected and for people to be empowered in new ways".

The Internet was now entering a "third generation" phase, he said, which would enable it to become "customisable, programmable and personal". These features will come with the widespread adoption of XML (extensible mark-up language), a new-era Web page language that lets the information contained in a Web page act as if it is in a searchable database.

The first generation Internet only enabled people to type in commands to access and transfer information, while the second generation - the browser-based pages people see today - could merely present information rather than actively use it, said Mr Ballmer.

"This third generation of the Internet will really surprise people," he said, noting that XML will let users activate computer program "agents" that do the work of gathering and assembling information. For example, XML agents "can go talk to your partners' websites" and update order, pricing, purchase and shipping information.

To accommodate this third generation Net, "software has to rebuild and rebirth itself", said Mr Ballmer. The operating system Windows 2000, the much-delayed upgrade of Windows NT, should be viewed as "software as a service", he added, a "Web services platform" that could deliver "infrastructure", "megaservices" (a new set of services for Website builders) and "marketplaces".

He also noted the role of Microsoft's Irish operations in producing Windows 2000, which is about to ship for manufacture. The biggest software localisation project ever for Microsoft, Windows 2000 had 16 of its 23 language versions localised in Dublin - including more than two million words of help and documentation. The team also made sure more than 900 printer models could run on the operating system and had met all its deadlines, he said.

A full Irish Times interview with Mr Ballmer appears in Business This Week next Friday.