Gates signs off with a whimper

 

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Posted on 7 Jan 2008 at 08:27

Bill Gates' final keynote speech at the world's largest consumer electronics show failed to excite the thousands of attendees who were hoping that the Microsoft chairman would bow out with a bang.

Instead Gates' tenure ended with a whimper, as he failed to announce a single new product of any great significance.

The attendees who queued all afternoon to hear the Microsoft boss were treated to little more than a humorous farewell video, demonstrations of previously announced products and a guest appearance from Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.

After a year in which Vista has failed to impress, Windows Mobile has had its thunder stolen by the iPhone and the Xbox 360 has been usurped by Nintendo's Wii, the CES faithful were hoping for something big from Gates. He disappointed - massively.

The closest we came 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.

And to drive a further nail into the HD DVD coffin, the heavily-rumoured 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.

Firstly, there will be HD 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."

The second plank of Gates's three-part vision is that 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 claimed. He also talked of a "digital memory application" that will collate your photos, experiences and personal landmarks.

The third element is a natural user interface.

"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.

Fond farewell?

Aside from the announcement that the Zune would be available in Canada in the spring, 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 it is just as well that Gates is giving up his full-time job at Microsoft to concentrate on his philanthropic activities.

Meanwhile Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is putting the finishing touched to his annual San Francisco keynote, and if the rumour mill is at all accurate, then the contrast with Microsoft's lack of offerings should be striking.

Author: Barry Collins in Las Vegas / Simon Aughton