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Bill Clinton visits Austin, delivers keynote for Dell World 2012
KVUE -- It's the largest private employer in the area, born and bred in Austin. But the future of Dell is the talk of skeptics with recent layoffs and whispers of buyouts.
Wednesday, CEO Michael Dell made it clear his company is here to stay.
"We're not protecting the past; we're inventing the future," Dell said.
Five thousand Dell customers and 1,000 investors gathered at the Austin Convention Center for Dell World 2012, the company's second annual conference to show off its newest products and share its future endeavors with customers.
"The coolest thing about the conference is that we're at the cusp of total transition in technology," said Doyle Friskney who works at the University of Kentucky. "So it's at that point where Dell and the customer are trying to figure out the future, and it's really exciting."
There's no doubt that change is in the air, something noted by keynote speaker former President Bill Clinton.
"When I became president, the average cell phone weighed five pounds. There were a grand total of 50 websites on the entire Internet. That was it. More of that have been added since I started talking," laughed Clinton. "I sent a grand total of two emails while I was president."
The key to moving forward Clinton added is not in yesterday's tactics. "Trying to hold on to a yesterday that can't be recovered. I believe the future belongs to networks of cooperation," he said.
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