Gates in 2004: "spam will be solved"

At the 2004 World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Bill Gates declared that "Two years from now, spam will be solved". Two years later, Microsoft spam-manager Ryan Hamlin says, "Bill didn't say that there would be no spam. But he said the problem would be solved, and I think that is what we actually have accomplished."

Notwithstanding that the majority of e-mail users think otherwise, Hamlin insists that "We've actually been able to shut it down to the point where, for the majority of users, they don't have a spam problem if they're taking advantage of the technology that exists."

Hamlin failed to explain that "taking advantage of the technology that exists" requires considerable time and money spent either by the users themselves or else by their e-mail provider. That doesn't constitute a problem solved -- that's a problem that continues to be a problem.

Is Gates' prediction on spam a bust?