By Barry Collins on Monday, 07 January 2008
 Bill Gates' final appearance at CES as CEO of Microsoft didn't turn out to
be much of an event - not a single significant new product was announced.
From July, Gates will no longer have a day-to-day role in the running of MIcrosoft,
but the thousands of CES attendees who had queued all afternoon to hear his
final keynote speech were treated to little more than a humorous farewell video,
demonstrations of previously announced products and a guest appearance from
Slash from Guns 'N' Roses.
In a year that saw the launch of the disappointing Windows Vista, Windows Mobile
get its thunder stolen by the iPhone and the Xbox 360 usurped by Nintendo's
Wii, the CES faithful were hoping for something big from Gates. But it was not
to be.
The closest thing to a new product was the announcement that BT is teaming
up with Microsoft to use the Xbox 360 as a television set-top box, presumably
as an additional part of its BT Vision service.
To drive a further nail into the HD-DVD coffin, the heavily-rumored Xbox 360
with built-in HD DVD drive failed to materialise.
Computing vision
So what did Gates fill his hour-long speech with? He began by outlining his
vision for the "second digital decade" -- the next ten years will
consist of three key elements, he claimed.
First, there will be high-definition video experiences everywhere. "You
won't just have a computer on your desk, but in the desk," Gates claimed.
"The quality of rendering will be very, very rich... 3D environments will
exist for many web experiences, [such as] walking through a store or meeting
people in a 3D environment."
Second, these rich services will all take place in an online environment. "If
you pick up a device and authenticate who you are... it will be very simple
to get up and running," Gates said. He also talked of a "digital memory
application" that will collate your photos, experiences and personal landmarks.
Third element is a natural user interface [which would be a first for Microsoft
- JP]. "The first digital decade was largely based around the keyboard
and mouse," Gates said. He then cited Windows Tablet PCs and the iPhone
as examples of interfaces that are breaking away from the traditional mould."
Pen, touch, visual recognition - all of these come together to create very new
experiences," Gates predicted.
Demonstration time
So far, so dull and Gates left the legendary CES demonstrations to his sidekicks.
We saw a demonstration of Windows Mobile service called Tell Me, which allows
people to say "movies", for example, into their handheld device, which
then uses location-based services to bring up a list of local cinemas and films
showing times. Another voice command lets you order tickets and send a text
message to a friend with a map of the cinema.
Microsoft's entertainment division president, Robbie Bach, also demonstrated
how the Zune media player can synchronise its music with new Ford cars and elements
of the Zune Social online music community service. He also let it slip that
Microsoft would begin selling Zunes outside of the US for the first time --
but only in Canada from thisSpring.
When Gates finally did get down to a demo, it was to showcase a new visual
recognition technology from Microsoft's Research Labs. Gates pointed the prototype
device at Robbie Bach and the screen displayed Bach's profile and personal history;
pointing it at a photo of a Las Vegas theatre produced a list of show times
and directions to the venue.
However, the demonstration lacked authenticity and Gates didn't offer any suggestion
as to when the technology might arrive in mobile devices.
Fond farewell?
The highlight of the speech was a pre-prepared video which mocked-up Gates's
haphazard final day at Microsoft, and the Microsoft boss begging a long list
of A-list celebrities to give him a job.
However, after such a dismal performance in his final CES keynote, perhaps
Gates really should take a well deserved break.
[2008
Microsoft CES Keynote]
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