REDMOND, Wash. -- When Bill Gates first invited CEOs to town in 1997, we were in a dot-com boom.

The CEO Summit has always been a high class affair with limo rides and dinner at the Gates mansion.

It has also included high dollar gifts like a pocket PC for every CEO back in 2000, when e-mail on a such a small device was hard to comprehend.

Now corporate executives are grappling with a possible recession, and Gates is about to retire from Microsoft.

But the gathering of 115 CEOs from some of the world's biggest companies still kicked off just like it always has with a speech on technology from the Microsoft chairman.

This year, it was the intelligent white board -- a surface computer that reacts to touch.

"I can zoom in anything, I can move around," Gates said while showing off the device. "I've got different types of information that i'm using here."

As Gates talked about what will happen over the next decade in business and technology, he repeatedly stressed to the CEO's something new: affordability.

"One thing we need to do is open our minds up and realize that things that would've been impractical are now incredibly practical," he said. "Say to the IT department, 'I want that information,' and it shouldn't be a budget-busting thing."

University of Washington business professor Suresh Kotha says the CEOs face a serious challenge - growing a business with a looming recession.

"How do you balance growth opportunities and cut costs and at the same time try to move the corporation forward?" she said. "I think that's the single most important challenge. How do you balance the two?"

Notable CEO's at Microsoft this week include the heads of Wal-Mart, Costco, Dell Computer and Goldman Sachs.

They can talk business with investment guru Warren Buffett, and there are several discussions about the environment and doing business "green."

The annual Lake Washington Boat ride and dinner are scheduled for Wednesday evening.

There was no official word on whether Gates would continue to host the summits after he steps down from his post at Microsoft to work at his charitable foundation full time, but sources at the event said Gates might still give the keynote address next year.

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Watch the presentations from the CEO summit: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/ceosummit/default.mspx