Gates Dedicates Namesake Building

College dropout Bill Gates went back to school Tuesday to help dedicate a new computer science building that bears his name and share his vision of the networked future.

The explosion of the Internet is a “Gold Rush” full of opportunity, the Microsoft Corp. chairman told alumni at Stanford University.

“There’s no fundamental roadblock that’s going to stop this phenomenon from flourishing in a very dramatic way,” said Gates, whose company is one of many trying to cash in on the Internet, the huge interweaving of global computer networks.

But he also warned that some hopes staked on the net won’t pan out, at least not until it becomes cost-effective to provide enough communications “bandwidth” to easily move high-quality video as well as text and pictures to millions of homes.

The Microsoft chairman spoke to alumni before helping to dedicate a new $38.5 million Gates Computer Science Building, home for programs on robotics, artificial intelligence, laboratories, classrooms and a library.

One of the world’s richest men, Gates donated $6 million to the project nearly four years ago, saying he wanted to invest in the computer industry’s future. Other donors include Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Co..