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Things were different in 1999 - the Kosovo War was raging, Britney Spears was at Number 1 with 'Baby One More Time' and Bill Gates was only worth $100bn.
To spend some of this cash, Microsoft decided to invest a little of it in imagining a house of the future.
This is what they came up with...
Now, it's not a bad effort.
Facial recognition house entry and food items that can automatically be added to a shopping list just by scanning them are still desirable in a modern house, if still a little out of mainstream reach.
There is one glaring omission however - there's not a smartphone or tablet in sight, just massive clunky screens dotted all around the house and a HUGE pocket PC.
Oh well, here's to the future...