Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Gates Delivers Last Keynote at CES

Bill Gates took center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Sunday, to deliver his final keynote address as a full time Microsoft employee. Gates-- who will be reducing his work load to get involved in more philanthropic pursuits as part of the...

Bill Gates took center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Sunday, to deliver his final keynote address as a full time Microsoft employee.

Gates-- who will be reducing his work load to get involved in more philanthropic pursuits as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—envisioned, in his address, the future of the digital age to be more focused on “connecting people” through a myriad of service-connected devices that will enable human interactions through touch, speech and vision interfaces.

The Microsoft co-founder anticipates a typical scenario 5 years down the road to be where consumers will be able to organize their music, photos and even their lives using touch capabilities. He backed up his bullish prediction with the availability of the Microsoft soft Surface computer—a machine akin to a table top which harbors a multi-touch interface.

Gates, who will take up the less demanding post of part-time chairman from July 2008 onwards, also predicted that entertainment will increasingly be delivered via the computer.

Analysts say that as impressive as Gates’ vision may be, he is making his exit at a time when the market is competitive than ever and his vision for a connected ecosystem of devices and services has yet to become a reality in the mainstream market.

In the future, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division will take over the role in delivering the keynote address at the CES. Bach’s division works on innovating products such as the Xbox 360 gaming console and the Zune media player.