Blogging the Bill Gates Keynote at CES2007
January 7th, 2007 | by Ryan Stewart |I’ve always been excited by those heavy-hitting bloggers who blog “live and on location” from the likes of MacWorld, SXSW, and CES. So tonight, as I prepare to watch Bill Gates’ keynote at CES, I’m gonna do it.
(Please ignore the fact that I am neither at CES nor a heavy hitting blogger. The keynote was viewable live at http://microsoft.com/ces/ and will probably be available for download there later.)
A little background information . . .
For Microsoft, CES is about bringing together personal creativity, content and community, to deliver connected experiences throughout the day — providing the tools to connect people to their communities and entertainment no matter where they are.
6:45pm PST
As has been the case for the past several years with Microsoft, they’re late. I know it’s likely CES’ problem but my guess is, MS has some pull. If timeliness was important, they could make an on-time start possible.
6:47pm PST
The show is getting started! Cute little introductory video!
6:49pm PST
Gates introduced. Title “Connected Experiences.” Announces his plans to do the keynote again next year but warns that beyond that, his talk may be “more about infectious diseases.” Haha, Bill. ROFLMAO.
Where are we now? What’s going on in our world?
- Young people spend more time on their PCs than in front of the TV
- We have incredible hi-fidelity technology
- Graphics resolution are enabling us to think about presenting items as they are in reality
- Storage space is now discussed in terabytes
But . . . we need to talk more about, and improve upon connections. That’s something we all need to deliver on for the consumer and the worker.
What’s being released.
- Windows Vista
- the best quality OS we’ve ever released
- you’ll discover lots more features as you use it
- we’ve been through a lot to develop it
- the biggest investment ever put into a piece of software because it is by far the most used piece of software
- MS Office
- we’ve observed over a billion sessions of users with the new user interface - it was a risk we had to take and it will pay off
- live services will become an integral part of the user experience
- we’ve come a long way from the days when we used to think that you buy a piece of software once and that’s it
7:00pm PST
Justin Hutchinson will now demonstrate Vista
One of the first things you’ll notice is how easy it is to find anything. Vista can not only search documents, emails, and items on this machine but all machines on the home network.
Previews - preview pane allows the preview of all files in multiple sizes.
Shadow copying - save multiple versions of the original file from documents. In short, it has versioning built in.
More quality themes from MS Word in office.
Integration with Windows live search (and the XBox360 controller). You can use and XBox360 controller with Vista and use the controller to navigate streets in Windows live. Looks cool.
Media center with Vista. Watching live HD feed of a football game with Sports Lounge while getting real time alerts, news and information at the top and bottom of the screen. Sports Lounge can be set up to track all fantasy teams complete with alerts that allow you to tune the channel when one of your team members is about to get in on the action.
Showtime, Nickelodeon, Starz will all be delivering on demand content to Vista Media center. “Windows Vista will take entertainment on the PC to the next level.”
7:09pm PST - Photos
Close to 2 billion photos were taken last year. Photo Gallery is the tool of choice in Vista and the DVD maker will allow you to burn DVDs of those photos to share with others.
7:11pm PST - Windows Vista Ultimate - the flagship edition
Groupshot - a photo editing tool that allows stitching of multiple photos to make one good photo. “It doesn’t fix pictures. It creates the picture you wish you would have taken.”
Dreamscene - full motion desktop backgrounds. Any video can be set as the desktop background . . . “awesome.”
“We have 22 days ’til launch.”
7:13pm PST - Gates returns to talk about the strength of Windows, historically.
In a nutshell, it’s been good because it’s great out of the box, but it also allows software providers to work independently to develop for it.
Hardware manufacturers are asking how they can make hardware that takes advantage of the new technology in Vista.
HP - Touchscreen
Toshiba - Portege new features
Sony - ??(got distracted)
7:18pm PST - A video of some new Windows Vista PCs
Laptops and tablets (with soothing Lorena McKinnet type music in the background)
Gaming (with heavy metal music)
Entertainment (PCs and media centers with “reach for the sky, i can fly soul music in the background)
7:20pm PST - the Windows Home Server
I’d like to talk about a product that’s new for us and one that we’ve partnered with HP on - the Windows Home Server.
Their streaming media server just borked. My coverage will return when my stream does.
The HP server will come out in the 2nd half of 07.
Backup and productivity features. It sounds like a plug and play storage device that makes having the home network server available and useful for the non-geek.
7:25pm - PST Connected entertainment
mobility, gaming, tv, music
Robbie Bach
Two parts to connected entertainment
- Content - we want people to be able to get their content whenever and wherever they want.
- Communtiy - people want to share their entertainment with others.
Requires hardware, software, and service.
- Music
- Urge music service
- Zune is off to a great start. We expect to ship 1 million soon. We are deeply committed to being successful and you will see us in the leadership position soon.
- Mobility
- Windows mobile
- Gaming
- Vista is going to expand the gaming market even more. PCs the leading gaming console in the world.
- Not only for the hardcore gamer but also the casual gamer
- Showing a litle video of games running on Vista (Such Great Heights by The Postal Service playing in the background)
- XBox360 has sold 10.4 across 37 countries
- Gears of War is selling like hotcakes
- Over 300 titles will be out by the end of 2007
- One title will be the story of 2007 - Halo 3
- Showing a video of Halo 3 amd while I’m not much of a gamer, it looks pretty freakin’ rad.
- XBoxLive has reached 5 million members and is the largest social network on TV
- We will expand the community and take it to a whole new level. The live experience will be expanded to the Vista platform - you can play XBoxLive on Window Vista (with the XBox360 controller). In short, it’s total integration with XBox live using Vista
- 3 Billion Hours of gaming in 2006 on XBox Live
- TV and HD
- HD DVD Player - HD DVD is the top selling format as of now.
- Media Center - 80% XP Media center was the #1 PC sold in the 2006 holiday season.
- Video Marketplace with over 1000 hours of content - through XBox360 too.
- ipTV - first demo’ed at CES 2 years ago. Over the next 3 or four years this will become a major part of the Windows ecosystem. Picture in picture allows preview of channels without changing the channel. “Tivo” like functions built in. ipTV also runs on athe XBox360 which allows you to talk to friends while watching TV. Because of this, XBox360 does everything you want in the living room. Music, TV, Games, connecting with media on the PC. Avaible by holiday season 2007.
7:48pm PST - Bill’s back
We want to give you connected experiences 24 hours a day. Connectivity in the car - we need simple, safe ways to get the drive involved. MS has been investing in this and has partnered with Ford.
Mark Fields, President of the Americas for Ford Motor Company introduces Sync.
Fully integrated voice activated entertainment and navigation system. Sync integrates all of your portable devices (iPods too). Drivers can send and receive calls and text messages through the system with a text to speech engine. It accepts most all music players along with flash and zip? drives. It will be connect to provide ongoing connectivity. It will be rolled out quickly and affordably on a dozen Ford products this year. Sync will, of course, run Microsoft software. It sounds like this will be cool. I couldn’t type fast enough to include all the features. I’ll add a link later.
7:54pm PST - Where we’re going in the years ahead.
Text to speech.
Interactive cameras on the computer.
Home of the future is being demo’ed.
An example . . . your phone knows your location and delivers coupons for stores and restaurants in the area. It will also show you when the nearest bus will arrive. The phone connects to the home and a notification is received when a delivery person comes to the door. You’re able to send a digital signature to receive the package.
In the kitchen screen technology will become less expensive. Items will be projeted onto the countertop and the kitchen recognizes what items are nearby. It then shows an interactive recipe on the countertop.
In the bedroom projections on the wall can be customized to match the users tastes. Multiple pictures and movies are being shown. He’s playing an XBox360 game on the wall and then changes it for the guest room so that the visitor (”grandma”) can see video of what’s going on in her house - because it’s connected too.
8:02pm PST - We need a lot of feedback from users to take this technology to the next level but there are fun challenges ahead.
He’s thanking all of the partners and the customers for their support.
The end (the show signs off with Over My Head by The Fray).
