ONLINE VIDEO Click here for video of Bill Gates' commencement address at Harvard University today. To see just his remarks, you'll need to fast forward. His introduction begins around the 1:50:00 mark. (RealPlayer required.)

Bill Gates has a year remaining as a full-time Microsoft executive, but his address today at Harvard University's commencement showed how much his thinking has expanded beyond Microsoft and the PC industry. Gates talked about technology, but not in the way he typically does at Microsoft events. Instead, his technological references were part of a broader message about the world's inequities.

Harvard Alumni Association President Paul Finnegan introduced him as "Dr. William Gates" -- a reference to the honorary doctorate he received earlier in the day -- and noted that Time magazine named the Harvard dropout one of the 20th Century's most influential people.

"Just think what you could have achieved," Finnegan said, "if you had stayed here another two years."

Here are excerpts from Gates' address, gleaned from the Webcast:

Talking about his departure from Harvard to found Microsoft: "I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree." [Bill Gates Sr. was in the audience.]

"I want to thank Harvard for this honor. I'll be changing my job next year, and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume. I applaud the graduates for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I'm just happy that the Crimson called me 'Harvard's most successful dropout.' I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class. I did the best of everyone who failed."

"But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. [Ballmer, now Microsoft's CEO, was also there, sitting in the crowd behind Gates.] I'm a bad influence. That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today."

Introducing the central theme of his address: "But taking a serious look back, I do have one big regret. I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world -- the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.

"I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences. But humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity."

On the role of the market: "We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism -- if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least earn a living, serving people who are suffering from the great inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.

"If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. Now, this task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge can change the world."

On the need to get people excited about addressing these problems: "I remember going to the World Economic Forum some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives. Millions! Think of the thrill if you could save just one person's life -- then multiply that by millions. Yet this was the most boring panel I've ever been on. Ever. So boring, even I couldn't stand it.

"What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from an event where we were introducing Version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement. I love getting people excited about software -- but why can't we generate even more excitement for saving lives? You can't get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact."

On the role of technology: "Yes, inequity has been with us forever. But the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are new -- they can help us make the most of our caring -- and that's why the future can be different from the past. The defining and ongoing innovations of this age -- biotechnology, the personal computer, and the Internet -- give us a chance we've never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease."

His conclusion: "You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time. As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with modest effort. You have more than we had. You must start sooner, and carry on longer.

"And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world's deepest inequities -- on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.

"Good luck."